[Boogieman]

I can’t even fathom how they could hope to reduce the complexity of it to a simpler form.

Ok, consider that perhaps you start with only RNA as a primordial situation. It’s still pretty useless unless it can replicate. Which means the RNA, which has no intelligence, would have to somehow create a ribosome to manufacture the proteins that it needs to replicate itself?

We do have intelligence, but we still can’t create a ribosome if we wanted to, so how can a dumb piece of RNA, that has no idea what a ribosome is, or that it might need one, going to manage such a feat?

[ifinnegan]

“It’s still pretty useless unless it can replicate.”

RNA is catalytic. Tom Cech won the Nobel prize finding that out.

It can auto catalyze it’s own polymerization and self replicate.

[BroJoeK]

Boogeyman: "Ok, consider that perhaps you start with only RNA as a primordial situation.
It’s still pretty useless unless it can replicate.
Which means the RNA, which has no intelligence, would have to somehow create a ribosome to manufacture the proteins that it needs to replicate itself?"

But of course, it didn't start with RNA, but natural chemistry vastly simpler.
If you are interested in the best explanation I've ever seen, then I'd recommend:

Addy Pross, "What is Life, how chemistry becomes biology"