[Alamo-Girl]

Or, one could investigate how self replication could arise via chemistry, as more and more researchers are doing. Anything written on the subject that is more than a couple of years old is not authoritative.

Speciation is the issue, not self-replication. And not what could have happened, but what actually did happen.

[js1138]

Speciation is the issue, not self-replication. And not what could have happened, but what actually did happen.

I could swear that the central theme of the thread is abiogenesis and not ongoing evolution.

But at any rate, given the molecular evidence of ERVs and such, if it is demonstrated that speciation is possible, than the other lines of evidence for common descent become overwhelming.

So it is important to discuss what is possible and to discover through research what is possible.

Consider, for example, a forensic investigation. If I find your fingerprints at a crime scene, and I have a witness saying you were there, and I find proceeds from the crime in your possession, you are all but convicted. Unless you have equally convincing evidence that you were somewhere else at the time.

When forming a theory or conjecture about what happened in the past, it is necessary that the individual pieces of the story each be possible or plausible. When you combine possibility with other lines of evidence, you have a more convincing case. Eventually, in criminal cases, you can have a case that is convincing enough to send a person to prison or even to justify execution.

[hosepipe]

[ Speciation is the issue, not self-replication. And not what could have happened, but what actually did happen. ]

Bingo... you get a cookie..