Reading the page on Andy Knoll's views on the origins of life and evolution, how could someone conclude that this is science and not merely opinion? Based on the number of times he says "I/we don't know," "I guess," "I imagine," etc., I would say his ideas are more religious evolution than any science. Here are some examples from the page:
"The short answer is we don't really know how life originated on this planet."
"But one definition that I kind of like says..."
"...so one has to imagine that..."
"...you might have placed your bets either way."
"So I can imagine that on a primordial Earth..."
"...but we remain in substantial ignorance."
"We don't know whether life is..."
"So it's a hard question to answer. I think the way I'd be most comfortable thinking about it is..."
"My guess is that it either happens or it doesn't."
"I think that there's less confidence that we're really going to be able to identify a specific historical route by which life emerged..."
"That's why we think that..."
"Well, we don't know how hard it is to go from the simplest bricks, if you will, in the wall of life to something that is complicated, like a living bacterium."
"My guess is it's not too hard."
"The hard part, and the part that I think nobody has quite figured out yet, is how you get them working together."
"I'm not sure we've gotten very far down the road to understanding how that really happens."
"...at this point we still don't know which of these pathways ultimately will thread us through the maze and which end up in a blind alley."
"If we try to summarize by just saying what, at the end of the day, do we know about the deep history of life on Earth, about its origin, about its formative stages that gave rise to the biology we see around us today, I think we have to admit that we're looking through a glass darkly here."
"We don't know how life started on this planet. We don't know exactly when it started, we don't know under what circumstances."
"I don't know. I imagine my grandchildren will still be sitting around saying that it's a great mystery..."
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Reading the page on Andy Knoll's views on the origins of life and evolution, how could someone conclude that this is science and not merely opinion? Based on the number of times he says "I/we don't know," "I guess," "I imagine," etc., I would say his ideas are more religious evolution than any science. Here are some examples from the page:
"The short answer is we don't really know how life originated on this planet."
"But one definition that I kind of like says..."
"...so one has to imagine that..."
"...you might have placed your bets either way."
"So I can imagine that on a primordial Earth..."
"...but we remain in substantial ignorance."
"We don't know whether life is..."
"So it's a hard question to answer. I think the way I'd be most comfortable thinking about it is..."
"My guess is that it either happens or it doesn't."
"I think that there's less confidence that we're really going to be able to identify a specific historical route by which life emerged..."
"That's why we think that..."
"Well, we don't know how hard it is to go from the simplest bricks, if you will, in the wall of life to something that is complicated, like a living bacterium."
"My guess is it's not too hard."
"The hard part, and the part that I think nobody has quite figured out yet, is how you get them working together."
"I'm not sure we've gotten very far down the road to understanding how that really happens."
"...at this point we still don't know which of these pathways ultimately will thread us through the maze and which end up in a blind alley."
"If we try to summarize by just saying what, at the end of the day, do we know about the deep history of life on Earth, about its origin, about its formative stages that gave rise to the biology we see around us today, I
think we have to admit that we're looking through a glass darkly here."
"We don't know how life started on this planet. We don't know exactly when it started, we don't know under what circumstances."
"I don't know. I imagine my grandchildren will still be sitting around saying that it's a great mystery..."