Theoretical origin of life; requires intellect (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, June 29, 2017, 20:54 (2704 days ago) @ David Turell

Another commentary on the need for intelligence:

https://evolutionnews.org/2017/06/origin-of-life-and-information-some-common-myths/

"These problems simply highlight one of the challenges for the RNA world hypothesis and for any materialistic explanation for the genetic code. A viable theory would have to explain for both the encoding and decoding several steps:

"Amino acids and nucleotides would have to be created in abundance and then brought together. They would have to originate in separate locations, since the conditions needed for their synthesis are quite different, and cross-reactions would have prevented the creation of either.

"The amino acids and nucleotides would have to form into long chains. These chains would have then needed to replicate by a selective process biased toward sequences which performed some useful biological function. The challenge is that any selective process would have only selected for the efficiency of replication, which has no connection to any life-permitting activity.

"A functional protein or RNA strand would have to unfold to allow for its sequence to be translated. And, such functional sequences would have to separate themselves from other useless chains. An enormous number of chains would have to exist for a useful sequence to have had any chance of forming.

"Individual codons would have to be so strongly attracted to their corresponding amino acids, that they would attach to them for an extended period of time.

"Some enzyme-like molecules would have to come along and then polymerize the nucleotides into strands of RNA or the amino acids into proteins.

"All useful products would have to migrate to some safe location until they could be encapsulated into a cellular membrane. A viable membrane would have to be selectively semipermeable, so it would allow the right molecules to enter and waste products to leave.

"Neither Yarus nor any other researcher has even come close to properly addressing any of these issues in a purely materialistic framework. Nor will they, for any realistic scenario requires intelligent agency to properly coordinate all of these fantastically improbable steps."

Comment: Origin of life remains a miracle