[cracker]

I also am rather amazed that you don't see your fundamental flaw. In order to have "cumulative selection" there must first exist a mechanism by which this occurs. But having such a mechanism presupposes the existence of that which the mechanism is invoked to explain. It's yet another example of question-begging. You can't invoke "laws of nature" to explain the coming into existence of nature since the laws of nature depend on a pre-existing nature.

Cumulative selection begins very early in the pre-biotic soup. Even the earliest chemicals that form do not degrade all the way back to their constituents - they do not start over at square one. Thus, when the next round of "random" chemical reactions take place, they are taking place in a more complex environment. The "laws of nature" in fact create the order: the natural progression of "random" chemical interactions creates progressively more and more complex chemicals, with each round of interactions building on those that went before, one step back and two forward.

Complex molecules emerge, and then self-replicating complex molecules, and at that point the selection pressures accelerate because now each successive generation doesn't even need to take the step back.

[aruanan]

The "laws of nature" in fact create the order: the natural progression of "random" chemical interactions creates progressively more and more complex chemicals, with each round of interactions building on those that went before, one step back and two forward.

Complex molecules emerge, and then self-replicating complex molecules, and at that point the selection pressures accelerate because now each successive generation doesn't even need to take the step back.

Nice statement of the current dogma, but this all takes place within what volume and what degree of permeability?