
Further to the thesis that the lunar ice could be hiding the building blocks of life, a revealing origin of life event will be held this year, following an international OOL conference hosted by Japan: Open Questions on the Origin of Life …
The scientific question about the origin of life is still unanswered: it is still one of the great mystery that science is facing. We all accept the 1924 idea of Oparin, according to which life originated from the inanimate matter through a long series of step of increasing molecular complexity and functionality. The real mile stone came 1953 with Stanley Miller flask experiments, showing that amino acids can be formed under prebiotic conditions from a mixture of gas presumably present in the prebiotic atmosphere. Which conceptual progress have we made since then? It is too much to say that we didn’t really make any, if we look at data under really and honest prebiotic conditions?
Adding that this situation is not due to shortage of means and finances in the field- but to a real lack of difficulty to conceive conceptually how this nonliving-living passage really took place?
This is perhaps a too provocative way to introduce the OQOL workshop which will take place at the IIAS (International Institute for Advanced Studies) of Japan and July 12-13, 2014. In fact, while the larger ISSOL meeting should shed light on the new results and progress, the purpose of the OQOL workshop is to indicate instead the shadowy, un-answered aspects of the field. …
Would it be fair to say no progress so far, and none in sight?
The difficulty is that, depending on how one defines the task, it may be impossible. They may be looking for things that did not happen, or in ways those things couldn’t have happened.
They hope to refine their discussion to seven questions. We just hope there’s a transcript.
Maybe they should invite Jerry Coyne as a keynoter. Coyne solves the problem handily: He won’t debate doubters like Moshe Averick. 😉
See also: Is there a good reason to believe that life’s origin must be a fully natural event?
and
Does nature just “naturally” produce life?
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