Models for the origin of life and early evolution on Earth cannot rely on fossils as biological evolution proper does. Plausibility replaces evidence, and what is plausible or implausible depends on the reference chosen. Pioneered by Sol Spiegelman and Manfred Eigen in the nineteen seventieth, experimental and theoretical models for evolution under controlled conditions became available. Within the last forty years the origin-of-life puzzle was not solved but the models have reached such a degree of perfection that they give direct insight into the molecular mechanisms of Darwinian selection. Epigenetic mechanisms of inheritance being just another way of transmitting inheritable information can be incorporated straightforwardly. Molecular models are directly applied to evolution of viroids, viruses, and bacteria, and open questions like the role of contingency in evolution can be answered for these systems.
Shneior Lifson contributed one essential idea to primitive evolution 13 the selective advantage of systems that can make use of their degradation products or sequels in a way that might today be called recycling.
In the lecture the state of the art in modeling primitive evolution and selection on the basis of molecular biology, chemistry and physics will be review. We shall refer in particular to the present knowledge on the prerequisites for designing molecular replicators. Eventually, the current situation in collecting raw data on evolution and processing them in order to make them suitable for application will be discussed.