Abiogenesis Is Impossible

Before I defend Abiogenesis, I am going to give a brief rundown regarding how life formed on the early earth. What is Abiogenesis? __________________ The early pre-biotic earth was filled with organic molecules (which are quite common in space), the building blocks of life. The pre-biotic environment contained many simple fatty acids, under a range of PH they spontaneously form stable vesicles. With naturally occurring simple fatty acids, we can have a vesicle that can spontaneously grow from consumption and divide. The pre-biotic environment contained hundreds of different types of nucleotides, all it took was one to polymerize, they can replicate themselves. So far we have lipid vesicles that can grow and divide, and nucleotide polymers that can self-replicate all on their own, but how does it become life? Well fatty acid vesicles are permeable to nucleotide monomers, but not polymers. Once polymerization occurs within the vesicle, the polymer gets trapped! In the ocean they will encounter convection currents. A vesicle with more polymer, through simple thermodynamics will steal lipids from a vesicle with less polymer, this is the origin of competition. A Vesicle that contains polymer can replicate, grow and divide faster therefore dominating the population. Self-polymerizing molecules will kick off evolution, and we see things like complex sexual reproduction arise, basically where the fun begins ;) What about intelligence? _____________________ First we have to define intelligence, I mean is intelligence the ability to learn and make choices? Well it may shock you than even bacteria can do both of those things. A species of bacteria rapidly evolved, selecting for a single nucleotide insertion, forming a new gene which allowed it to digest nilon, this is just one example of how evolution can increase information stored in DNA. The bacteria learn how to digest the nilon. Of course a bacteria's intelligence pales in comparison to our own, so how did something as complex as the brain arise? Well our brains have 100 billon neurons and 1 quintillion synapses. A neuron is simply a cell which transfers electrical impulses form one location to another. Now DNA sequences reveal that ion channels used in the neurons in animals had their origin in bacteria. The first neurons were simply coopted, bacterial ion channels, put to the new task of transferring information. As multi celled organisms form they need a way to rapidly transmit information and form brains because they can produce the ability to transfer information faster and over longer distances than simple passive waves which are not up for the task. Refuting my opponent's criticisms on the Miller-Urey experiment _____________________________________________________ Lets say I granted him the notion that the Miller-Urey experiment was not valid, this still wouldn't even put a dent in the fact that Abiogenesis is at least possible simply based off one experiment being invalid. Since I am not granting him that notion, here is my response to some (I don't have enough room to refute all) of his objections to the experiment. " …it ignores the presence of oxygen, which has been proven to exist for 4.3 billion years" This is absolutely off (by 2 billion years) Oxygen did not exist in the early atmosphere. Early life took in carbon dioxide and sunlight, exhaling oxygen as a waste gas. After a few million years, this waste gas became a significant part of the atmosphere, enough so that new opportunistic species could use it for respiration. The reason why my opponent is mistaken is because plants (life) are what produce oxygen in the air, therefore oxygen must not have been present when the earliest life formed. Animals need oxygen. "You cannot evolve animals like us without having a significant amount of oxygen," says geochemist Dick Holland of Harvard University. "Without the Great Oxidation Event [a dramatic rise of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere some 2.3 billion years ago], we would not be here. No dinosaurs, no fish, no snakes - just a lot of microorganisms." "The Miller-Urey experiment, while producing more than the 20 amino acids required for life, only produced small yields of these amino acids." This point is moot. The very fact that these amino acids were produced speaks volumes on the success of the experiment and the possibility of Abiogenesis. Miller's experiment showed that organic compounds such as amino acids, which are essential to cellular life, could be made easily under the conditions that scientists believed to be present on the early earth. "Since volcanoes only release carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and water vapor.." Volcanic eruptions involve the release of methane, ammonia, and hydrogen gases as well as water vapor (http://ua-ib-bio.tumblr.com...). My case in favor of Abiogenesis being possible _______________________________________ Simple case: ___________ 1) The very fact that all people who do not advocate Abiogenesis throw out how the probability of it is so low, proves that even they believe it is possible. If they didn't, they would say the chance of it happening is 0. 2) The fact we are here proves not only is it possible, but it most likely happened (unless you believe in the supernatural and magic) Scientific case: _____________ Primordial Soup—Miller-Urey use a mix of methane, ammonia, and hydrogen to form basic amino acids in the lab. Deep Sea Vent Theory—Hydrogen saturated, heated, fluids from hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor mix with carbon dioxide laden water. Continued chemical energy from the interactions sustains processes that produce simple organic molecules. Spontaneous Formation of Small Peptides from Amino Acids: Sidney Fox demonstrated that the conversions could occur on their own. Eigen's hypothesis—Eigen and Schuster argue that some molecules, possibly RNA, can serve as an information storing system that brings about the formation of other information storing systems, or a kind of replication. Radioactive beach hypothesis: radioactive elements such as uranium may have concentrated on beaches and become building blocks for life by energizing amino acids, sugars from acetronitrile in water. Homochirality: The right or left handedness of organic molecules may be explained by the origin of compounds in space. Self-organization and replication: Under the right circumstances, many non-organic molecules exhibit properties of self-organization and self-replication. "Genes first" models: the RNA world It has been argued that short RNA molecules could have formed on their own. Cell membranes could have formed from protein-like molecules in heated water. Chemical reactions in clay or on pyrites could have initiated self-replication. "Metabolism first" models: iron-sulfur world and others. Some theories argue that metabolic processes started first, then self-replication. Bubbles collecting on the beach could have played a role in forming early, proto-cell membranes. Autocatalysis Some substances catalyze the production of themselves such as amino adenosine, pentafluorophenyl ester, and amino adenosine triacid ester. Clay theory Complex organic molecules could have arisen from non-organic replicators such as silicate crystals. It has even been reported that the crystals can transfer information from mother to daughter crystals. Gold's "Deep-hot biosphere" model Gold argues that life originated miles below the surface of the earth. Microbial life has been found there, and it may be present in other plants. "Primitive" extraterrestrial life Organic compounds are common in space, and early life may have been transferred here from other planets such as Mars. Additional Sources: ________________ http://www.chem.duke.edu... http://atheismblog.blogspot.com... http://www.youtube.com...