Fact or Fiction? (General)

by dhw, Monday, March 15, 2010, 17:06 (5179 days ago) @ George Jelliss

DHW: God or sheer chance may have brought certain chemicals together so that they were able to copy themselves. God or sheer chance may have wrapped them in oil bubbles etc.-GEORGE: It seems then that God is indistinguishable from Chance. We know that chance exists. The entire science of statistics is based on it.-Since when did an either/or make the alternatives indistinguishable? I don't know whether George Jelliss (chance) or David Turell (design) is right about the origin of life. Does that make you identical twins? Of course we know that chance exists, and lots of things happen by chance. We also know that lots of things are designed. The origin of life, however, is unique in our experience, i.e. it has no known precedent and no known parallel. A reference to statistics (which ... erroneously? ... I thought were based on the collection of factual data, not on chance) is as meaningless in this context as a reference to the internal combustion engine. -Thank you for the item on Boadicea. The parallel with other mythical/historical figures from the distant past is unmissable, though you generously refrained from saying so! Once again this emphasizes the huge difficulties involved in distinguishing between fact and fiction when it comes to the history of Life on Earth.