So maybe this idea has already been done, if it has can someone point me to a link?
ok ready... so we always see these absurdly large improbability numbers for the spontaneous generation of self replicating molecules. Can someone (or a group) write a series of physical laws into a computer program, enter in some matter to begin with, and see what happens to that matter over time? Of course the more complicated the laws, and the smaller the individual units the more computing time it would take for each virtual second (or minute, or day) to progress.
So why not follow in SETI's steps, and divvy up the computations between millions of home computers and see what we end up with? There would have to be a lot of guess work involved... but that would mainly be with the mass to originally start with. The physical laws would be relatively simple (just mimicking what we observe today as much as possible)
thoughts? is this feasible? Given the computing power of the world (or at least those interested in participating in this) how long would it take for... oh... 2 billion years to elapse in this virtual world?
Maybe as a precursor simple virtual life forms can be set loose in a fabricated environment with rules to see what evolves over time. If the end result contains IC system that would be falsification of the assertion that IC systems can not evolve by chance/natural selection.
If these two programs could produce self replicating molecules and IC systems, respectively, this would be direct observations that complex life can arise on it’s own.