[microgood]

The earliest trunk of the tree of life is blurry, but certainly after about 500 million years ago there is no scientific dispute that all life has a common ancestor. It is certain we have a common ancestor with chimps, for instance. Only a zealot could think otherwise after looking at the ERV evidence.

I was not disputing the ERV evidence. But to extrapolate our ancestry with chimps to a singularity of a first life is a hypothesis at best given the information we currently have.

You really think "Ok...whatever" is a valid argument?

OK I give up. Random mutation has nothing to do with evolutionary change whatsoever. Which is of course exactly what I believe.

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"I was not disputing the ERV evidence. But to extrapolate our ancestry with chimps to a singularity of a first life is a hypothesis at best given the information we currently have."

You accept our common ancestry with chimps and other apes? :)

"OK I give up. Random mutation has nothing to do with evolutionary change whatsoever."

By itself, no. Without the selection element, mutation won't do anything. Creationists conveniently leave out the selection element (which is decidedly nonrandom.)