[js1138]

Rearrange the DNA data in a gene and you will change the output form, even though the chemical compounds involved will be just as stable as before.

Evolution and selection can occur at different physical levels. The lowest level I'm familiar with is the transmutaion of elements in stars. Next would be chemical evolution of molecules, ala Stanley Miller. If you deny that this can lead to RNA or DNA, that's your position, your speculation about the history of the Earth.

But if it can happen, then we have the possibility of self-replication.

Without knowing the history of earth in detail, anything said about the probabilities of this happening is speculation.

[Southack]

"Without knowing the history of earth in detail, anything said about the probabilities of this happening is speculation."

That's incorrect. The specific math involved in calculating probabilities is not speculation.

[Southack]

"But if it can happen, then we have the possibility of self-replication."

Nonsense. We KNOW that self-replication can happen because we see it in everyday life, so no one is worrying herself to sleep wondering if self-replication is "possible".

It is.

But that isn't the issue...