Hi Buz,
I'm not trying to pile on here, and in fact don't really have time to do anything more than post a few articles you might find relevant to the discussion if you're interested.
The first one,
Self-Organization of Template-Replicating Polymers and the Spontaneous Rise of Genetic Information, describes an experiment showing that, under specific conditions, certain chemical compounds can in fact self-organize and replicate from basically nothing to complicated structures very similar to simple DNA/RNA polymers. They aren't saying that this was HOW things actually happened, but what the article does show is that the concept is not impossible.
The second article I'd like to draw your attention to is
Evolution of Biological Complexity, which describes how - once a self replicating system gets established - incredible complexity (as you demand) can get created through purely mechanistic, natural processes. This one uses digital "organisms" to show how genomic complexity in an information rich environment automatically increases - naturally. Again, they're not saying that this is "how" things occurred all those billions of years ago, but they are providing one way that it
could have happened, and demonstrating that the concept of naturally increasing biological complexity isn't impossible.
Finally,
Evolutionary self-organization of cell-free genetic coding, provides a description of how a multi-component genetic system (again referring to what people in this thread have called "complexity") can arise and evolve naturally. Once more, the authors are not saying that this is exactly how it happened. They are simply showing that natural processes can in fact result in quite complicated biological systems.
I hope the articles clarify your assertion:
quote:
Sure, I can understand that once enough information is received there might be the honing. Like once enough, I say enough information is introduced, that information gives nature what it needs to naturally select. But for nature to select, enough information would have to be introduced/mutated randomly to cause the selection when you're starting from scratch.
(edited to fix ubb code)
[This message has been edited by Quetzal, 07-18-2003]
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