Primordial Soup

[ChristineM]

I just find it odd that it only took a billion years for dna to form after the earth first formed.

A bit less really, and have you any idea of how long a billion years is?

 

[YoursTrue]

Here's a thought -- since some of you believe that "life" kind of sprang up or came as a result of a few molecules doing chemical reactions with one another, did other elements add in to that as they developed? What do you think, and is it guessing or using reasoning with factual material? What molecules started the whole process and then what happened?

 

[Jimmy]

A bit less really, and have you any idea of how long a billion years is?

And yet it took 4 billion years of evolution to go from single celled organisms to terrestrial plants. This is more complex than the evolution of DNA?

 

[icehorse]

Abiogenesis seems unlikely

Well it's a BIG universe. It could be that it's even more unlikely that it would never happen anywhere, any time in this huge, huge, huge, old, old, old universe of ours.

 

[vulcanlogician]

(keyboard malfunction)

 

[YoursTrue]

Life of course uses existing chemicals and of them them is silicon. It is a very large part of soil since soil is partially made up of sediments which are often almost all silicates. But the problem for believers in dirt magic, like you, is that the percentages are incredibly far off. Where silicon is gong to be one of the most common elements in dirt, very possibly second after oxygen, it is observed as only a trace element in the human body. So man is clearly not made of dirt, or mud, or soil as in your myths.

As it had been said, when a person does, his body may disintegrate. Do you think the body doesn't dissolve or disintegrate when it does? Yes, the body goes back to ...? how about the whatever for abiogenesis?

 

[YoursTrue]

Many years ago, I was part of a project to analyze and characterize a batch of different chemicals to determine what they were. We had to scrap the project and start all over, because the chemicals all polymerized naturally making analysis nearly impossible.

Back in the 1950's, it was discovered in a chemical waste dump in Colorado, that all the chemicals and conditions in it had lead to the spontaneous formation of herbicidal compounds that had never been dumped there.

Chemistry occurs when the conditions and substrates are available.

Are available maybe to bring life to them, hmm?

 

[YoursTrue]

And yet it took 4 billion years of evolution to go from single celled organisms to terrestrial plants. This is more complex than the evolution of DNA?

Seems like a tough question for some to answer.

 

[Jimmy]

Seems like a tough question for some to answer.

The only other option would be if earth was seeded by a meteor containing DNA but this seems unlikely. Then of course we have the Lord and what he’s capable of which is astounding. Just look at our infinite outer space. Need I say more. Creating life would be a cake walk. Haha

 

[Brickjectivity]

Did life spring forth from this soup? I'm having difficulty believing that.

Don't know about the 'soup', however there are 4 basic universal principles that could explain the emergence of RNA, DNA, Viruses and other critters.

1. Entanglement. Long things entangle. Put strings in a box, and shake it. Tangles will form. DNA depends upon this to function, making use of this during its replication. Tangles get worse and more complicated, not simpler. They don't undo themselves. This tends to form more complicated substances from simpler ones, too. At the same time it tends to make substances less changeable, because they become more dense.
2. Replication of shapes. Put kinetic energy into a shape, and it will tend to damage the area around it in a complement to its own shape. It makes molds that tend to replicate the original shape. Shapes also tend to replicate for other reasons, but the point is that shapes tend to create similar shapes to themselves and also to create complementary shapes. This goes beyond mere blocks but includes chemicals, wave patterns such as electrical signals and other kinds of shapes. An electrical signal will create a smaller and higher frequency copy of itself. A wave through water will do something similar. Replication happens all the time. This works well with what we know of DNA, part of a replicating system that replicates itself.
3. Competition in replication. The material matters, and also its complexity and density. Some things replicate faster or better. Therefore some things make more or better copies of themselves. They may also destroy weaker materials and shapes made of weaker materials.
4. Mutation. When you make copies they aren't always perfectly the same. Usually they aren't exactly the same. If a lot of energy is expended over a long period of time, many clones will form either of crystals or chemicals or signals or other shapes. Some of them will be slightly different.

So when we are talking about this concept called the 'Soup' we are talking about a lot of cloning and entanglement, so we are talking about energy being put into shapes which should, by principle, become increasingly complex. There are some conditions for this, such as energy supplied over long periods of time; but generally not a lot of anything else is required to make increasingly complex forms that replicate. When we look at what we know of DNA and cells its like seeing a very complex and dense structure that replicates but which does not much care about anything. The DNA doesn't care about itself. It just replicates, mutates and generally is a medium for energy to pass through.

 

[Subduction Zone]

As it had been said, when a person does, his body may disintegrate. Do you think the body doesn't dissolve or disintegrate when it does? Yes, the body goes back to ...? how about the whatever for abiogenesis?

Didn't I already answer this elsewhere?

 

[Subduction Zone]

The only other option would be if earth was seeded by a meteor containing DNA but this seems unlikely. Then of course we have the Lord and what he’s capable of which is astounding. Just look at our infinite outer space. Need I say more. Creating life would be a cake walk. Haha

The most likely scenario is that RNA formed naturally on Earth. Though RNA or even DNA could have come from Mars.

 

[Jimmy]

The most likely scenario is that RNA formed naturally on Earth. Though RNA or even DNA could have come from Mars.

It formed naturally pretty quick

 

[Subduction Zone]

It formed naturally pretty quick

Hundreds of millions of years after the Earth formed is "pretty quick"? I would hate to wait for a slow process in your world.

 

[Jimmy]

Hundreds of millions of years after the Earth formed is "pretty quick"? I would hate to wait for a slow process in your world.

Odd that the evolution from single celled organisms to terrestrial plants took 4 billion. One would think the evolution of rna and dna would’ve taken longer than 4 billion with all its complexities. Maybe earth was seeded by a meteorite containing dna huh?

 

[Subduction Zone]

Odd that the evolution from single celled organisms to terrestrial plants took 4 billion. One would think the evolution of rna and dna would’ve taken longer than 4 billion with all its complexities. Maybe earth was seeded by a meteorite containing dna huh?

Why is it odd? Now you changed your stance and are saying that it happened to slow. Earlier it was too fast. Are you an expert in these matters at all?

 

[YoursTrue]

The only other option would be if earth was seeded by a meteor containing DNA but this seems unlikely. Then of course we have the Lord and what he’s capable of which is astounding. Just look at our infinite outer space. Need I say more. Creating life would be a cake walk. Haha

(I agree.)

 

[YoursTrue]

Well it's a BIG universe. It could be that it's even more unlikely that it would never happen anywhere, any time in this huge, huge, huge, old, old, old universe of ours.

There are differing thoughts on this. Some might think that it is likely that it has not happened anywhere else, especially seems it seems that the universe is expanding.

 

[YoursTrue]

Didn't I already answer this elsewhere?

Not that I remember. Maybe you did. Or maybe what you said doesn't add up, if you know what I mean. If you don't know what I mean, oh well at this point. So then does it go back to soupy stuff? Then mush in the coffins obviously has a chemical reaction since the smell isn't so great if one gets a whiff of it. It doesn't matter. There are figurative explanations and literal explanations. Meantime, the earth (soil) is probably full of flesh that has rotted or went 'back' to soil. (Have a good one.) Water also leaches into soil and sand and the stuff that's in the soil.

 

[YoursTrue]

Why is it odd? Now you changed your stance and are saying that it happened to slow. Earlier it was too fast. Are you an expert in these matters at all?

are you? Besides, it has been notable that "scientists disagree about which chemical components of life came first, which of life’s processes came first, and where on Earth life first arose." Isn't that something, that scientists disagree. My, oh my, they disagree on ... what can be said to be fundamentals. I mean how life started. Fundamentally, you know in the scientific realm.