abiogenesis
Scientists have been searching for clues to the origin of life for decades if not longer. Why are they having such trouble figuring this out? Is it because there is no "origin" of life, and that everything is living, and life comes from life? Why would chemicals be non-living in one instance, and living in another? When will they come to realize there is no dividing line between life and not life, because everything is life? It is only obvious.
There are several problems, not the least of which is the definition of "life". It isn't as easy as it sounds.
But did life originate on Earth? Don't know. If it did, did it happen only once? Don't know. Is it possible it is still happening? Don't know, but there are some pretty strange life forms around deep sea fumaroles. There is also the tiny problem of finding a single cell that formed a billion years ago and has been taken to the mantle's molten rock in the subduction process. We aren't ever going to find that single, original, unique beginning of life on earth.
About all that can be said definitively is that life does not require some kind of divine spark; no "breath of life" is needed as man has already taken dead chemicals, added off-the-shelf chemicals and made a living organism.
But as far as a rock being "alive", well, that isn't so obvious to most of us. You won't find very many that would agree outside of philosophers that don't truly care about defining their terms to match what we observe.
I don't know. Life begets life. It's difficult to imagine a scenario where it simply is.
