I said in my last post that the most determined atheists are coming out of the closet and posting their favourite YouTube authorities as proof that
“life coming from non-life is a well-understood process.”
I have to smile every time I write that. You see, “well-understood” is the atheist euphemism for “pretend” “bluff” “guess” or “assume.”
In the present case, I suspect it would be prudent to review just how much has been assumed:
First, that the pre-biotic atmosphere was chemically reductive;
Second, that nature found a way to synthesize cytosine;
Third, that nature also found a way to synthesize ribose;
Fourth, that nature found the means to assemble nucleotides into polynucleotides;
Fifth, that nature discovered a self-replicating molecule; and
Sixth, that having done all that, nature promoted a self-replicating molecule into a full system of coded chemistry.
These assumptions are not only vexing but progressively so, ending in a serious impediment to thought. All questions about the global origins of these strange and baffling systems seen to demand answers that the model itself cannot by its nature provide.
Berlinski in Commentary Feb. 2006
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Turns out this set of "assumptions" authored by David Berlinski of the Discovery Institute has been spread far and wide, verbatim, by all sorts of people who have no idea what any of it means.
Rod, what does "chemically reductive" mean?
What do you think would happen if you addressed what was being said instead of attacking the one who is saying it?
I see, you don't know what "chemically reductive" means.
I'm getting to the actual material. My time for this pursuit is limited.
1. "Chemically reductive" means containing chemical reducing agents, such as any of a range of metals, or hydrogen with a catalyst. If a chemically reductive environment was needed, the entire atmosphere didn't have to be like that, or any of it at all if abiogenesis occurred underground or in the water. Opportunities were everywhere.
2.Cytosine is a derivative of pyrimidine, which forms in certain reactions between organic compounds such as amines - like those found in the Miller-Urey experiment.
3. Ribose occurs widely in nature. It's often used as a supplement, but there's no natural (living) source of it. That means it must form without life.
4. We know several enzymes that link nucleotides together, naturally and artificially. Therefore there are many established ways that the first polynucleotides could have been formed.
5. With an enormous planet throwing together all existing pre-biotic organic compounds constantly using the wind, waves, landslides and so forth, while it wasn't inevitable that a working combination that self-replicated would come together, the low probability per contact was balanced out by the number of opportunities. If a billion people play the lottery, someone is almost sure to win.
6. Once any self-replication was underway, the principles of natural selection would have asserted themselves. Since "coded" chemistry is beneficial, it was encouraged.
Hey MAKARIOS and OTHERS,
I decided that it was finally time for me to have my own blog.
Actually, I already had created one a few days ago because I wanted to share a little sketch with someone.
One user who writes here, "His Lordship", noticed my sketch and thought I should show it to you Makarios, so why not? It's related to your misconception of what infinity or the Big Bang truly represent.
At the same time, it made me realize that I could spend some time, once in a while, to write something on that temporary blog I had already created... so I decided to put my Abiogenesis reply as my first real blog post!
Just click on my username or browse to http://hugo-temp.blogspot.com to find out.
Cheers!
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