Posts by cofty

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

cofty

this post adds no benefit to the discussion and comes off as a prideful grasping at straws, with much projecting and worthless argumentation. - Sanchy

Why would you think that my statement of fact that - In recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet - is "grasping at straws"?

Is it because you are not aware of recent developments in origin-of-life science? I have very little doubt that the solution - or at least a solution - is not too far beyond our grasp. The specific details have already been laid out in detail. Now the hard work is going on in labs around the world to see if each of the steps can be shown to work.

If you are interested I would be happy to explain some of the details.

Please don't be distracted by stories of "primordial soup". That is a dead end.

I think you should stick to the facts, they are on your side my friend. - Sanchy

I am really not straying beyond facts for a moment.

If it is easy to cobble these processes together, even with simplified, rudimentary precursors, we should be seeing results quite soon - Vidqun

It is really really NOT easy. Some of the best biochemists in the world are working on it though and making progress.

I'm genuinely interested in how it would affect your worldview if/when it does happen. It is assumed by theists that "life" is a special thing that emanates from god alone - "with him is the source of life". If science can show that life begins spontaneously under the correct chemical conditions then surely that would have profound theological implications.

The majority of christians have accepted the fact of evolution and found a way to accommodate it within their theology. I wonder if it would be so easy to adapt the the knowledge that life is a purely naturalistic process.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

cofty

Vidqun your comment betrays the mistaken idea that a cell is animated by a force called life. It is nothing like that. There are simple precursors of all of those complex systems.

I'minterested in how you would accommodate this within your worldview. Would denial be your only option?

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

cofty

Maybe if you made the effort to understand the idea you would be less confident that it can't be done.

It's only a matter of time.

I'm curious to know how you will deal with it when it happens. I suppose we have an answer already - denial.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

cofty

would that not prove that it is not unique?

It would prove that life is not "magic".

That is why answers like Vidqun's are so dishonest. All theists assume that there is something special about LIFE - a ghost in the machine that originates with god. If science succeeds it will prove what scientists already know. Life is a physical process not a thing.

Theists believe there is no life without a "lifegiver". Science says all you need is rock, water and carbon dioxide.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

cofty

I will just say: See you need an intelligent mind to create life. - Vidqun

But that would be disingenuous.

When scientists do succeed it will prove that life is not an ethereal force emanating from god. That will have real theological implications.

The idea that science can answer ultimate questions about existence - SBF

It has nothing at all to do with answering "ultimate questions" How the process of life began is a scientific puzzle not a metaphysical one. That is the point. It's not about whether god exists, it's simply about how the process of life gets started.

You are a troll. You constantly hijack threads with your tedious po-mo bullshit.

is not most life's energy a fire, oxydation? - Prologos

Yes that is true. There is a process called chemiosmosis that is common to every living thing including bacteria, archaea and complex multicellular life. Cells use the energy from redox reactions to pump protons across a membrane. They then flow back through a protein complex called the AT synthase to turn ADP into ATP - the universal currency of energy.

We quite literally "burn" food by stripping electrons from glucose and passing it on step by step to oxygen.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

cofty

Every single time you engage with me you knowingly attack a strawman.

I no longer care enough about your opinion to correct you.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

cofty

Yes I would not be surprised if consciousness proves to be a bigger challenge to explain than origin of life.

44

Why Do People Become Jehovah's Witnesses?

by minimus in

jw
friends

besides being raised in the religion , why do people become jws?

.

cofty

Certainty

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

cofty

Their challenge will change from "You can't say how life got here," to "You can't prove that your successful lab experiments are the way life actually got here." - Aha

True. Of course any naturalistic origin of life that works proves that no magic is necessary.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

cofty

I'm amazed at how far we have come in such a short period of time - Azor

I think it is easy to forget that. Science is still relatively new and the progress that has been made in the last century is astonishing.

What do you mean by "codex" by the way?