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From: alan@allegra.UUCP (Alan S. Driscoll)
Newsgroups: net.religion,net.origins
Subject: Re: If You've Got the Time...
Message-ID: <2622@allegra.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 20-Jul-84 16:56:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: allegra.2622
Posted: Fri Jul 20 16:56:46 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 21-Jul-84 04:37:51 EDT
References: <896@akgua.UUCP>, <2621@allegra.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 23

> If the Rationalist Materialist explanation of the origins
> of life on Earth are correct then we sprang from the chance
> combination of elements into amino acids and the chance
> union of amino acids into proteins.  The argumentation that is
> usually advanced is that over the long eons of time the various
> combinations were "tried" by nature until the right ones matched
> up.  The question on the floor today is "Was there enough time
> for this process to take place and thus validate the explanation ?"

It's easy to get into trouble discussing the probability of
past events.  A simple example should make this clear:

Suppose I toss a coin 10 times.  Whatever the outcome is, I
can look at it and say, "The probability of this particular
outcome was only 1/2^10, but it *did* happen.  How could it
be random?  It's too unlikely.  It must have been the result
of divine intervention!"

-- 

	Alan S. Driscoll
	AT&T Bell Laboratories