From: gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: ETs and Radio
Date: 30 Jul 92 22:34:24 GMT
Reply-To: gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman)
Organization: Gannett Technologies Group

In article <rwallace.712441800@unix1.tcd.ie> rwallace@unix1.tcd.ie (russell wallace) writes:
>In <1992Jul29.162909.3574@ke4zv.uucp> gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman) writes:
>
>>In article <rwallace.712328556@unix1.tcd.ie> rwallace@unix1.tcd.ie (russell wallace) writes:
>>>Given that for evolution of life to start, a simple living organism must
>>>come together from amino acids etc. by accident; and that for any
>>>complex structure to fall together by accident is extremely improbable;
>>>then it looks pretty much like the odds against life appearing on any
>>>one planet could easily be more than 10^1000 to 1 against, and the
>>>number of planets in the visible universe is only about 10^22.
>
>>When you place hydrogen and oxygen together in a 2:1 ratio and provide 
>>an energy source, what happens? Blooey! Every time? Yes, every time. 
>>That's the way it is with life chemicals, there is nothing accidental 
>>about their combination.  It's just basic organic chemistry at work. 
>>We have very good evidence that the primordial chemical mixtures of
>>early planetary bodies contain the proper precursor compounds and
>>elements in abundance. We know that solar UV and electrical discharges, 
>>lightning, will supply the necessary energy. We've done it in a test tube. 
>>We haven't yet made the step to the enclosed cell, but with 10^23 precursor
>>molecules in every cubic meter, the combination is bound to occur.
>
>Yes, I realize that amino acids are bound to form under the appropriate
>conditions. However, those amino acids are no more likely to
>spontaneously assemble into a life form than 10^6 transistors placed in
>a box and shuffled around are to assemble themselves into a working
>computer.

But you are still making a flawed assumption. The carbon chemistry of
complex organic molecules *dictates* that they must react in such a
way as to form self replicating structures. Once that happens, the
self replicators quickly dominate all other processes. The only way
you can view life as an accident is if you view the chemical laws
as an accident. Given the laws of carbon chemistry, life *must* result
when conditions meet certain criteria of temperature, pressure, precursors,
and energetics. Given the intial conditions on Earth, life *had* to
form. There was no way the chemical laws could be broken any more than
light can travel faster than 300,000 m/s in vacuum. 

The result of *evolution* to the current human form is much less certain. 
That's the result of trillions of chance combinations of life being weeded 
by selective pressure. It's far more certain that *some* form of intelligent
life would evolve and *call* itself human in whatever language it developed. 
And it's absolute certainty that *complex* lifeforms would evolve since they 
have a demonstrated higher survival probability than simple forms.

Creationists invariably choose to misunderstand carbon chemistry so that
they can say life *by chance* is absurd. But life is not by chance. If 
there's a place for a god, it's in formulating the basic chemical and
physical laws that *demand* that life arise.

Gary