[~ot] why is programming so fun?

[Robert Fraser]

Robert Fraser wrote:
> 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.

(oops)

... however  this does not mean that a higher power of some sort 
(intelligent or not) is impossible.