>
> Let's not jump to conclusions.
>
No need to. Experimental results demonstrate that Davies is wrong; the only
question is why is he wrong. I believe it is most likely that he either
didn't know about it or didn't really understand it, because in his
single-page discussion of proteinoids, he described them as being the result
of random polymerization. The research clearly demonstrates that thermal
copolymerization of amino acids is not random, so he either didn't know about
the research or he didn't understand it.
>
> I'm still not sure exactly what
> "specified complexity" is in terms of information theory (i.e.
> its precise definition) but the statement:
>
> #'He explicitly says that laws cannot contain the recipe for
> #life because laws are "information -poor" while life is
> #"information - rich."'
>
The problem with this claim is that it assumes life has always been
"information - rich"; it is more likely it started out "information - poor"
and evolved to its present level of "richness", which is what the
experimental results in fact demonstrate.
>
> is right on the mark. This is a fundamental result from
> information theory proven first, if I remember correctly,
> by Chaitin, one of the founders of algorithmic information
> theory.
>
The way thermal copolymerization works is that the shape and chemical nature
of the amino acids determines which amino acids will bind together. This is
controlled by the known physiochemical laws. I tend to doubt that
information theory really proves that the physiochemical laws cannot create
life, but if it does then there is research that refutes this proof.
Kevin L. O'Brien