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To: Ichneumon
I see... So you'd be safe pledging to send me $1000 for every research paper I can cite which finds evidence for the biochemical sources of the earliest life forms?

Do you find this to be an effective debating technique? Because I don't. This isn't a question of who has the bigger testicles, or who is willing to pony up the most cash on an anonymous on-line board. You can't bully me into agreeing with you

I'm familiar with the arguments -- I've read the relevant literature, although if you'd like to supply more, I'd be happy to read it -- and I continue to believe that there is no evidence to suggest that life came into being through a natural process. That isn't to suggest that it didn't or couldn't happen, but that there isn't evidence to suggest that it did happen. I know that incredibly complex viruses exist. I know that amino acid synthesis happens naturally. But saying that something could happen and did happen are two different things, and scientists investigating the possibility of abiogenesis have not proved that it is even possible.

752 posted on 08/02/2005 2:13:03 PM PDT by Alter Kaker (Whatever tears one may shed, in the end one always blows one’s nose.-Heine)
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To: Alter Kaker
[I see... So you'd be safe pledging to send me $1000 for every research paper I can cite which finds evidence for the biochemical sources of the earliest life forms?]

Do you find this to be an effective debating technique?

Yes I do. It's very effective in making it obvious when people are making confident absolute claims that they know they can't actually back up. When people run away from an invitation to put some money on the line, it becomes clear to all that the person's original claim was an overstated bluff.

Because I don't.

That's because you misconstrue its purpose.

This isn't a question of who has the bigger testicles, or who is willing to pony up the most cash on an anonymous on-line board. You can't bully me into agreeing with you

Nor am I trying to.

I'm familiar with the arguments -- I've read the relevant literature,

Please provide three relevant citations to the primary literature.

although if you'd like to supply more, I'd be happy to read it -- and I continue to believe that there is no evidence to suggest that life came into being through a natural process.

WOW! So nice of you to admit your bias. You can state ahead of time what your conclusion will be before you even see the literature.

That isn't to suggest that it didn't or couldn't happen, but that there isn't evidence to suggest that it did happen.

Sure there is, no matter how many times you repeat that falsehood. Thus your blustering excuses about why you won't risk any cash on being demonstrated wrong.

I know that incredibly complex viruses exist.

Irrelevant to this discussion.

I know that amino acid synthesis happens naturally.

Irrelevant to this discussion.

But saying that something could happen and did happen are two different things,

No kidding.

and scientists investigating the possibility of abiogenesis have not proved that it is even possible.

Science does not deal in "proofs".

Now, are you going to stop posting false claims that you can't actually support and aren't willing to stand by confidently enough to lay some cash on the table? Or are you going to just keep repeating your presumptions as if they were fact?

770 posted on 08/02/2005 2:31:04 PM PDT by Ichneumon
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