[~ot] why is programming so fun?

[Robert Fraser]

Gregor Richards wrote:
> I love that all arguments against natural abiogenesis come down to an 
> argument from ignorance. The fact is that we haven't got the foggiest 
> bit of a clue what the entire range of things that could have 
> /potentially/ formed life are, we just happen to have been formed from a 
> particular set of amino acids. We like to believe that only amino acids, 
> or even only the set of amino acids life on Earth are based on, could 
> form life, but that's just stupid. Given the uncountably many planets in 
> the universe, life has probably come into existence and evolved in ways 
> we could never remotely predict, and idiots on their planets are saying 
> "The chances that a simple life based on hexavalent chromium would form 
> naturally are so unlikely, we must have been created by some higher 
> intelligence!" As it turns out, when you consider your very low but 
> extremely ignorant statistic given the number of planets in the 
> universe, and the potentially huge number of possible ways life could 
> form (a number we can't even begin to fathom), it turns into 
> 99.9999999999%. Unfortunately, the general populous doesn't understand 
> statistics even in the slightest, and so they think "Wow, given the 
> extremely low odds that a protozoan would appear by random chance, we 
> must have been created by a higher power!" Idiots.
> 
>  - Gregor Richards

Troll much?

I think most well-reasoned arguments for a higher power or powers accept 
such statistics and instead attempt to explain why the universe itself 
exists rather than life. The majority of such arguments do not seem to 
be well-reasoned, however.