Elucidate life's origin?
23 March 2001, SA and Dov exchange.
Dov: Not simple to undo the compounded evolutionary product, in its present ambient medium, and to disassemble it back into its earlier constituents and in their ambient medium…. Presently each archaic gene, once an independent organism, has become a member of an interdependent association, somewhat like the mitochondria plus nucleus in a common cell.
SA: You are exactly right, however, it would be great to show the very possibility of poly- or oligonucleotide replication in a non-enzymatic situation, at least in a situation when catalysis is not performed by proteins. Ribosymes are one good argument, but even ribosymes had to develop somehow. That is why I think it would be critical to find some non-organically catalysing condition for nucleotide replication.