Abiogenesis: Is it scientifically inexplicable?

There is more than one hypothesis or theory of abiogenesis, one being a group of meteors carrying amino acids struck the earth billions of years ago, forming a primordial soup of left-handed amino acids in the water of the earth, and either a self-replicating protein or RNA happened to form. Another theory is that chemical materials that self-replicate emerged first, until we reached life, DNA.

None of the theories of abiogenesis have been proven with scientific evidence. In fact, they are all unproven theories or hypotheses.

DNA and RNA are present in living cells and are considered to be replicators. DNA and RNA, as well as the proteins that could conceivably self-replicate, all consist of very large numbers of units or molecules. If we were to consider the probability that they would accidentally form or assemble, just once, in the correct replicable way, we would reach a number that cannot be achieved scientifically within the time limits that we are familiar with on the earth.

Even if we assumed that abiogenesis began with the simplest protein that ensures the self-replication process (and let us accept the assumption that it is extremely simple and consists of just a 32-amino-acid sequence), since there are 20 different types of amino acids that can form this sequence, the number of possibilities we would have is (4.294967296 x 10+41) or approximately 4 x 10^41, which is the number 4 followed by 41 zeros. This is a very large number, and it represents an extremely low probability of occurrence.

In fact, this made Dr. Richard Dawkins stumble into unrealistic assumptions in his book The Blind Watchmaker, in a desperate attempt to decrease the number of zeros on one side and increase them on the other. In this way, most atheists drop tens of zeros here and add tens of zeros there in a very unscientific and careless manner, making imaginary assumptions in the hope of eventually reaching a number they deem acceptable and achievable within the time limits available on the earth, about a billion years at most.

Page 48, ‘The Atheism Delusion’
Continue reading…

Scroll to Top