This summer's fashion in origin of life theories is - diamonds!
Well, diamonds go with everything. And what would summer be without another brand new theory of the origin of life? So far, I have heard at least fifty (soup, stew, pizza) - now diamonds.
Yes, the latest is that diamonds are a swirl's best friend, as Robert Roy Britt notes in "Diamonds May Have Jump-Started Life on Earth" (Fox News, July 28, 2008):
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When primitive molecules landed on the surface of these hydrogenated diamonds in the atmosphere of early Earth, a few billion years ago, the resulting reaction may have been sufficient enough to generate more complex organic molecules that eventually gave rise to life, the researchers say.
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The new research does not conclusively determine how life began, but it lends support to one possible way.
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Well, here are a few of the others, as per recent stories:
Could life on Earth be much older than supposed? (700 million years older?)
"Sci-fi writer reminds us that life from outer space is not life from Roswell" (= an extraterrestrial origin of life is a respectable hypothesis)
"Origin of life a perfect circularity" (Even the concept can be difficult to define.)
"Why the origin of life is such a difficult problem" (because the many theories are in fundamental conflict with each other)
"Origin of life: Tangled skein continues to tangle"
It's nobody's fault. Origin of life probably isn't a solvable problem. Remember, even if someone creates life in a lab, that does not prove life started that way - only that that way is possible. It is somewhat like the Crown prosecutor showing that the defendant "might have" committed the murder. That won't get the defendant convicted; it only means that the trial continues.
Also at Colliding Universes:
Extraterrestrials: Younger astronomers less likely to believe than older ones?
Universe: Dinesh d'Souza finally debates Richard Dawkins - at Al-Jazeera!
Some scientists hope that the aliens are NOT out there!
http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/environment/2008/07/25/an-atlas-of-climate-change.html?msg=1
I hope others will join me in applauding the article by Lindsay Chura. The above link is to the interactive site for that article. You will notice that two spineless, anonymous blowhards have already responded as I expected. Furthermore, I was allowed to identify them as the cowardly blowhards they invariably prove to be!
I love it so!
"Mankind fiddled while earth burned."
John A. Davison
"A past evolution is undeniable, a present evolution undemonstrable."
John A. Davison
Ironically on that page (atlas of climate change) which summarized the dire situations that are occurring round the globe there was one of those context-banner ads for a Lincoln sedan - I clicked through out of curiosity and noticed that the advertising site included all kinds of details about the car with the notable omission of any fuel-efficiency data.
My conclusion is that no matter how well-presented the data America simply does not care about climate change - the car-ad and the negative comments are both symptoms of the same crisis in rationality.
Your thoughts?
I missed this comment before:
The best evidence is that evolution is no longer in progress as my signature proclaims. One thing is for certain. It was planned from beginning to end and the end was some time ago.
That seems like quite an unusual position to me (I'm not saying you are wrong) - in that you claim that there was once an active process of evolution which is now concluded or stopped either because a "program" has come to the end of it's run or because some kind of external agency has caused the evolution to end (like pressing a stop-button). What is it that caused evolution to stop?
Also, forgive my possibly naive interpretation of your words, but when you say that "Evolution" has ended, are you referring to all kinds of evolution or just specific kinds of evolution (e.g. macro-evolution, speciation). The reason I ask this is that myself and most ID advocates seem to agree that concepts such as micro-evolution and genetic-drift do exist and have been demonstrably verified.
It is perfectly obvious that Bob Mort is completely unfamiliar with my published papers and my evolutionary views. Accordingly, I have no intention of responding to him until he has established that he is aware of that literature and the sources on which it is so firmly based.
I recommend my weblog -
john.a.davison.free.fr/
and especially The Prescribed Evolutionary Hypothesis thread.
"A past evolution is undeniable, a present evolution undemonstrable."
John A. Davison
origin of life
Speaking of the origin of life, the current issue (August 4-11, 2008) of U.S. News and World Report is notable for the usual nonsense about how life originated. No one has the vaguest notion of either how, how many times or where life originated and, once originated, how many times it may have been reprogrammed and directed. The best evidence is that evolution is no longer in progress as my signature proclaims. One thing is for certain. It was planned from beginning to end and the end was some time ago.
Much more significant in that issue, on page 46 and 47, is the projection for what me must expect as global warming continues. Those two pages composed by Lindsay Chura, freshly graduated from Mount Holyoke, represent the first publication by a major news outlet of the horrors we must expect as global warming continues. It is right on, long overdue and I suspect it will be ignored if not denigrated. It is my conviction that it is already too late. I agree with Sir Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society and author of "Our Final Century." Need I say more?
"Mankind fiddled while earth burned."
John A. Davison
"A past evolution is undeniable, a present evolution undemonstrable."
John A. Davison