“Was the first life not a species?”
No, by definition. A “species” is a taxonomic term — used to distinguish one species from another. When there was just one life form, there were no ‘species’ of life — just life and not-life.
“No, by definition. A “species” is a taxonomic term — used to distinguish one species from another. When there was just one life form, there were no ‘species’ of life — just life and not-life.”
Why do you assume there was only “one life form”?
How do you define “just life and not-life”? (You see how invoking life vs non-life brings us back to a type of creationism).
>>When there was just one life form, there were no ‘species’ of life
Speciation includes the ability to identify and procreate with similar life forms.
RNA Molecules which were not able to procreate with one another would still be molecular life forms - but different molecular species.