At any rate, since atheists need not be materialists, ART is deader than a doornail. Even though materialism is false, it may still be possible to explain the existence of rational thought solely by appeal to matter and energy. However, it should be pointed out that many scientists do make contributions to such a project. It is the subject of ongoing research within many sciences, including brain physiology, biology, and chemistry. From my understanding of the research, although it is as yet incomplete, it has not come up against any insuperable difficulty.
Scientists show how the chemical origin of life is compatible with certain natural laws.
By appeal to mutations and natural selection, they explain the mechanisms by which life developed from simple to complex. Consequently, Wilson's soda-fizzing and other analogies should be rejected. Science has come a long way towards explaining rational thought in materialist terms, and to dismiss all that work by way of bad analogies is not a piece of reasoning to be taken seriously. Otherwise, with his inaccurate formulations of materialism, he is merely attacking a strawman of his own invention. It is not incumbent upon the critic of the argument to prove the falsity of any given step.