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A simple mechanism could have been decisive for the development of life

phys.org

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Re: A simple mechanism could have been decisive for the development of life

#31
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The existence of the universe itself

The only thing that proves is that the universe exists. Claiming that someone created it is only moving the question, because who then made the creator?

This is a very famous point raised by theologians many centuries ago. Circular reasoning can hardly count as valid. What if the creator always existed? And besides no major religion deals with this point so I wouldn't have an answer.

Re: A simple mechanism could have been decisive for the development of life

#33
post #26

I find it fascinating that we have not witnessed self reproduction and evolution in a simulated world as of now. Unless we manually put it in of course. Any guesses when this will happen? Life springing up in a 2D-Automata or something like that? What size will it be? How many cells does the smallest self reproducing 2D-Automata need?

In the familiar Game of Life automata the smallest known replicator takes 34 million generations:

http://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=399&start=0

But in HighLife there is a trivial replicator:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicator_(cellular_automat...

Of course for life you need not just replication but mutation and antifraility

Re: A simple mechanism could have been decisive for the development of life

#34

Is it so hard to believe that there's a creator maybe?

Who/what created the creator then? And please don't say "the creator has always been there", because the same could be said about a universe to make a creator redundant...

Not quite. Since we know the markup of the chemicals of the universe we also know that it has a beginning and an end date or simply put that energy was required to set it off. That would explain that it can't be timeless whereas we simply do not have any attributes or what the creator is made of hence can't come to a conclusion regarding his mortality

Re: A simple mechanism could have been decisive for the development of life

#35

Is it so hard to believe that there's a creator maybe?

Believing is not hard no, anyone can believe whatever they want. What is hard is proving that what you believe is true.

Or for the other side to prove that you are wrong. Let's be honest here, none of us can "proof" the existence or non existence of a creator but we have been endowed with intelligence and humility to hopefully come to the right conclusion.

Re: A simple mechanism could have been decisive for the development of life

#36
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, yes. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.

The most extraordinary claim is that we are here by 'chance' or a happy 'accident' rather than a supreme being putting us here.

Now you're just shifting the argument.

Re: A simple mechanism could have been decisive for the development of life

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Believing is not hard no, anyone can believe whatever they want. What is hard is proving that what you believe is true.

Or for the other side to prove that you are wrong. Let's be honest here, none of us can "proof" the existence or non existence of a creator but we have been endowed with intelligence and humility to hopefully come to the right conclusion.

So game over, you win because humility?

Re: A simple mechanism could have been decisive for the development of life

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Believing is not hard no, anyone can believe whatever they want. What is hard is proving that what you believe is true.

Or for the other side to prove that you are wrong. Let's be honest here, none of us can "proof" the existence or non existence of a creator but we have been endowed with intelligence and humility to hopefully come to the right conclusion.

> Let's be honest here, none of us can "proof" the existence or non existence of a creator.

Indeed, let's be honest, we cannot prove anything.

> but we have been endowed with intelligence and humility to hopefully come to the right conclusion.

So then, the right conclusion would simply be that we don't know, right? You are free to have some preference, i.e, you prefer that a creators exists, and that's fine, but as you said earlier, let's be honest we cannot prove it.

So with the humility that was endowed to us, let's just acknowledge what we don't know. And that's why people are trying to understand :)

Re: A simple mechanism could have been decisive for the development of life

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing that proves is that the universe exists. Claiming that someone created it is only moving the question, because who then made the creator?

This is a very famous point raised by theologians many centuries ago. Circular reasoning can hardly count as valid. What if the creator always existed? And besides no major religion deals with this point so I wouldn't have an answer.

What if the universe has always existed, and every few billion years or so, a portion of it explodes outwards into a completely new direction of space?

Re: A simple mechanism could have been decisive for the development of life

#40

Is it so hard to believe that there's a creator maybe?

Who/what created the creator then? And please don't say "the creator has always been there", because the same could be said about a universe to make a creator redundant...

Causality is a concept found in this universe/reality. All meta-reality concepts like causality, time, place, identity, information, and such originating from within are underjustified for considerations outside it.
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