[~ot] why is programming so fun?

[Fawzi]

Chris Wright Wrote:

> BCS wrote:
> > The chances of life happening by chance are something like that, if not 
> > worse. You could probably calculated a relative number for it with 
> > quantum physics and/or information theory and/or string theory or some 
> > such. IIRC there is a theory about how much info can be in a given volume.
> 
> I don't think anyone has come close to describing the odds of abiogenesis.

definitely OT, but
 J. Maynard Smith, Eörs Szathmáry: The Major Transitions in Evolution. New York 1995, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-850294-X
contains several interesting thoughts about it :)