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Ingredients of Life Found Around Sun-Like Star
smooth wombat writes "NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope has detected the basic organic building blocks of life in a ring orbiting in the 'habitable zone', that area where Earth orbits the Sun and where water exists on the borderline between gas and liquid, in a nearby stellar nursery. When acetylene and hydrogen cyanide combine with water they form adenine, one of the four bases of DNA. The detection supports the widely held theory that many of the molecular building blocks of life were present in the solar system even before planets formed, thus assisting the initial formation of complex organic molecules and the start of life itself." Though it was a little shakier than this observation, we've discussed the possibility of life elsewhere in the galaxy before.
That's precisely my point -- once you're in the realm of multiplying an insanely large number pulled out of your ass by an insanely small number pulled out of your ass, it's arguably irrelevant that the number the OP is pulling out of his ass is even smaller.
Occam's Razor went by the boards long ago on this front, for the reasons you say.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
You're right, I lack the knowledge to say "The chicken came before the egg", but I don't think many scientists have yet to explain it either, experience or otherwise I think I would have heard something.
The whole relationship between DNA and the processes are a chicken and egg event; you cannot make the things that run the processes without them already existing (or being externally created, which would require something intelligent). Personally I find that unexplained... at least in anything I've read/seen/heard/etc. So yes, I do think that the chances of random amino acids being folded in a certain way that they just happen to copy DNA are very slim and have yet to see any evidence for how it just happened. Heck, it takes a computer a couple of hours to fold one protien, and this one is not being made to do a certain purpose.
I know science isn't the study of things we already know, I suppose I don't like putting my faith in unproven theories then, but it seems the thing to do around here is bash anyone that thinks something else is possible. What I don't understand is why sciense as a whole is so against the idea that something could have had a hand in it (not saying they should say that something did, but why not admit the possibility?), except for their job security.