[js1138]

I disagree, my guess is that someday this will be a high school science fair project. IMO, the fact that the number of routes is so huge means that once a certain chemical complexity is reached, life of a sort will "condense out". This is very roughly Kauffman's scenario.

I agree, but I also think this means we will never know the exact route that led to life on earth. I suspect this is what Yockey means.

[Virginia-American]

I agree, but I also think this means we will never know the exact route that led to life on earth. I suspect this is what Yockey means.

OK, I agree with that. My guess is that there will be a spectrum of possible routes to the initial proto-life, and once it's established you can no longer see the earlier steps (beasically because they've been eaten).