In”Science, God, and the ultimate evolutionary question” (New Statesman, November 30, 2011), Andrew Zak Williams tells us,
Until science proves the origin of the very first cells, many will wheel out God as the default explanation.
Actually, those of us who have noticed the origin of life clown car trailing real science for the better part of a century could just as easily wheel out space aliens. (God tends to win on points, and logic.) The funny thing is, Williams knows he’s bought a losing ticket, in buying into a material-only origin of life:
And so the hydrothermal vents theory provides a plausible account of how the first life could have formed on earth along with the DNA which was necessary to replicate it. But the theory certainly has difficulties. In fact, a similar theory based on a different type of vents, black smokers, is now generally given short shrift by the scientific community. Perhaps the hydrothermal vents theory will likewise come unstuck.
Perhaps? They all have come unstuck. Ain’t no “perhaps” about it.
The problem cannot be addressed without factoring in information, which is not a material entity, but is evidently present in life forms.
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