What is Life?

g:
It is difficult, I know, to look at a living cell today and try to

back up from it to a "first cell." That you are trying is a good

thing. Some of the difficulty lies in the fact -- or what I am

persuaded is a fact -- that we cannot have certainty beyond

some level as to what is going on in a living cell today. That

is, we cannot examine it closely enough to see what is happening

without disrupting what we are looking at (the Schrödinger's cat

dilemma).
Tom:
The question of the OOL is all uncertainty IMO. It's definitely
a new path. I don't think we should know for a certainty yet.
It's too early and there is too many paths yet to try before
we discover the correct one. Not knowing for certain now
just means we don't know now. Later we may or may not.
What is impossible today may become possible or even
probable tomorrow. I tend to think we will learn how
life began, and within our lifetimes.

You are right to caution those of us with scenarios to make sure
we are explicit in stating the hypothesis side when
appropo and the fact side when studies are presented.
And civility always helps. Also perhaps this
saying - you can't reason with the unreasonable -
pertains at times LOL


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