dhw: How C&I could ALREADY exist without a cause is as difficult to believe as its evolution by whatever means. "Simply" is a term often used by believers and non-believers, and it covers a multitude of imponderable and unbelievable complexities!-So of course we come back to the issue we cannot solve. What are the characteristics of a first cause? We have agreed, generally, there has to be a beginning, a first cause, which takes us to an uncaused cause, and back to Aristotle.