[aruanan]

Which is why nobody suggests such a thing in the first place. I'm rather amazed that this guy, for all his obvious mathematical ability, hasn't been able to spot his fundamental flaw, or that nobody's bothered to point it out to him.

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.

[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.

[general_re]

Serious question - do you think it is important to study history?

[js1138]

You would probably be offended if I asked you to explain the origin of God. Attributing the nature of nature to yet another entity does not explain anything. First causes are unexplained. Live with it.