Stanley Miller debunked?

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Does this mean you take it as a matter of faith that we one day will prove life arose naturally?

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What would you consider "proof" that life arose naturally? I can't think of anything that would be considered proof. Like any other science, all that anyone can do is to construct reasonable theories, based on our current understanding of science, and then test the principles as best we can.

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I do suspect that within a century we will see life arise, on it's own, in the lab, under conditions that are at least reasonable for the conditions on earth early in it's history.

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I'm not so confident, Ned. When life arose, it might have had up to a few tens of millions of years to do it, and perhaps the entire oceans. It could be that the probability of life arising is, although very high in terms of the entire earth, too small to be performed in a laboratory.On the other hand, I would, of course, be tickled pink if in my life-time a complicated cell-like self-replicating chemical system appears in someone's laboratory experiment.

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I agree, but isn't the conlcusion life must have arisen via naturalist (random and undirected) means speculation based on inference?

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I'm not sure what you mean by "speculation by inference", but no one says that life must have arisen via naturalist means -- it is a hypothesis, and that hypothesis can be tested. Namely by proposing reasonable scenarios where life can arise by naturalistic means, and testing those aspects of these scenarios that can be tested. As long as progress continues to be made in our understanding of how life can arise by means of naturalistic processes, then the hypothesis remains a good one.Edited to turn on signature.This message has been edited by Chiroptera, 13-Aug-2005 12:38 AM

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"The cradle of every science is surrounded by dead theologians as that of Hercules was with strangled serpents" -- T. H. Huxley

Have we determined yet whether Stanley Miller has been debunked?

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This alone blows away the idea of any primordial soup.

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Actually, it doesn't. To wit: And yet, amino acids do unite to form peptides in cells, and cells are definitely a water environment. How can this occur? When you figure out that, you will be a long toward figuring out this problem. Hint: think catalysts.

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"Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism -- biblical literalism -- is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true." -- Katha Pollitt