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I'm of the opinion that both the creationists and the Darwinists have it wrong. I do believe in evolution, and that organisms do change from one form to another. One good example of this is the fact that whales and dolphins have hip bones, left from eons ago when their ancestors walked on land.

However, I have problems with the idea that sheer random chance led to the creation of the original amino acid compounds here on Earth. Any arguments in support of the idea that life may have been "seeded" here fail to address where the sower originated from.

I am personally of the opinion that the real answer has yet to be offered. I'm currently leaning toward the idea that their is either some form of "template" superimposed upon our universe that forces everything, from atomic structures to complex molecules to galactic clusters, to comform to a certain limited number of possible arrangements. Stephen Wolfram is addressing this concept in his new book "A new kind of Science". You can find out more at his website here or at www.stephenwolfram.com if the link doesn't work for you.

If this theory is correct, then the existence of life would be because of the fact that the "patterns" of life, from the most basic molecular combinations to form the first amino acids, to the bilaterally symmetrical forms taken by most living things, are literally "embedded" in reality, and that all of the possible forms of life that can exist probably do exist in whatever niches that can support these forms of life.

OOPS! Remove "either" from the sentence about some form of template. Sorry!

I'm of the opinion that both the creationists and the Darwinists have it wrong. I do believe in evolution, and that organisms do change from one form to another. One good example of this is the fact that whales and dolphins have hip bones, left from eons ago when their ancestors walked on land.

However, I have problems with the idea that sheer random chance led to the creation of the original amino acid compounds here on Earth. Any arguments in support of the idea that life may have been "seeded" here fail to address where the sower originated from.

Except it wasnt a sheer random chance. It was driven by external environmental forces and both mutation and genetic drift.

"One good example of this is the fact that whales and dolphins have hip bones, left from eons ago when their ancestors walked on land. "

Billy, Billy, Billy....did you hear that tale from a bunch of old Science Rabbis? I know you cant support that statement from a scientific basis (pictures? fossil evidence? any evidence? wishful thinking - ding ding ding!). This belief of yours is based upon a belief system inculcated from your youth, much as the Mr. Wise in question here.

Actually - in very recently published research - people have found that some organic molecules very close to the sugars found in DNA exist in meteorites and it's been known for a while that organic molecules are found in space especially in meteor fragments. We're probably leaning somewhat closer to finder at least some of the raw materials being seeded from space.

From the AP Sugar Compounds Found in Meteorites

Sugar compounds, an indispensable ingredient for life today, have been found in meteorites, bolstering the theory that chunks of rock from outer space delivered the materials that gave rise to life in Earth. Another key ingredient, amino acids, has already been found in meteorites. George Cooper of NASA (news - web sites)'s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., said that while it has not been proved that meteorites delivered the materials that led to life, the discovery means meteorites containing the building blocks were at least present on the planet early in its history