Natural Selection
Some definitions of Natural Selection
The concept developed by Charles Darwin that genes which produce characteristics that are more favorable in a particular environment will be more abundant in the next generation.
Evolutionary change based on the differential reproductive success of individuals within a species
The above definitions are perfectly acceptable as far as they go. The environment for all life affects their growth and development. We are all a lot taller than the average Victorian, why? Because our diet is better. We have not evolved into a new species, we have simply become bigger, fitter, healthier etc. This is not evolution. An evolutionary change requires new DNA which means new programming instructions for the cells of the body.
Natural Selection requires something new to appear, a third arm, wings etc. It needs to be something gives an advantage to a member of a species. Anything new needs new DNA! Anything new needs new brain control systems. Anything new needs new nervous system links. Anything new also needs to be passed on to future generations so the reproductive system needs pass the changes on.
Natural Selection is presented as some sort of Intelligent Being. It apparantly knows what is a useless appendage and what is going to be a useful development. This intelligence has to know the future. How did wings develop on what became birds? A fully functioning wing did not appear in one generation of some animal! At the same time the developing appendage needed to be passed on to the next generation so the reproduction system needed to have an identical change occur. Of course the brain was also developing control and monitoring systems so that the new muscles would produce the correct movements once the wing was completed.
Until the wings were fully functioning Natural Selection would tend to remove it. A bird with a damaged wing does not escape from it's enemies. I can picture these animals running around dragging non-functioning wings on the ground and trying to survive in a hostile environment.
In reality Natural Selection is to do with the abilities of existing populations of living things to compete against each other and to survive in the existing natural conditions. If a cat-like creature appears on the scene and eats all the young of birds then that bird population would disappear.
If human beings kill all the tigers in the world for their skin then there will be no more tigers. If a virus appears that would wipe out all of mankind, then there will be no more people, and incidently, no more virus.
Natural Selection is simply the process by which a species can kill off another species because of some advantage, like sharp teeth or it can run faster etc, that allows it to destroy the opposition.
Natural Selection and Chemical Evolution
Natural Selection could not have functioned before the existance of the first living cell, and it
can only act on organisms capable of replicting themselves.
Cells equipped with DNA could pass on their genetic changes.
Without DNA there is no self-repliction but without self-replication there is no natural selection.
So one cannot use Natural Selection to explain the origin of DNA without assuming the existance of the very thing that you are trying to prove.