The Sermon Part 2 (Agnosticism)

by David Turell , Sunday, July 27, 2008, 23:47 (5961 days ago) @ Carl

In regard to the origin of life, there is a possibility other than chance and design. It may be that the natural attributes of organic elements are such that anytime they are brought together under the right conditions and allowed a few hundred million years to percolate, the precursors of life and, ultimately, life itself will arise. If you throw in panspermia, then you have the conditions and life span of the entire galaxy to produce the required conditions. I would not call such a scenario "chance". - Carl's theory sounds like Stuart Kaufman's work and theories on self-organization. Organic molecular organization can lead to emergent properties, but I think actual replicating life structures are a bit much. I still call this (Carl's) scenario chance, and raise the issue, why should organic material be that way? By chance or by design?