Extravagant Claims: James Tour & Stephen Meyer Critique Origin of Life Research

Intelligent Design the Future

Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture

Science, Philosophy, Astronomy, Society & Culture, Life Sciences

4 • 993 Ratings

🗓️ 26 July 2023

⏱️ 64 minutes

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Summary

On this ID The Future, we continue a four-part conversation series between philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, and Dr. James Tour, a world-leading synthetic organic chemist at Rice University. Dr. Tour has recently been engaged in a series of back-and-forth responses to attacks on his work from YouTube science communicator Dave Farina. This has given Tour a new opportunity to critique experts in the field of abiogenesis and allows an interested public to better evaluate both sides of the argument. In Part 2, Meyer and Tour discuss the work and claims of origin of life researcher Lee Cronin. They begin with a review of the four classes of molecules before critiquing Cronin’s foremose reaction experiments and his claims to have found a process that’s analogous to cell division. Tour also discusses the importance of chirality, as well as how amino acids behave in aqueous solutions. Turns out that “warm little pond” story we’ve been told for many years is chemically implausible. The discussion rounds out with a reminder of the information problem, something Meyer writes about at length in Signature in the Cell. Have prebiotic chemists made any progress on the sequence specificity problem? None whatsoever, says Dr. Tour. This is Part 2 of a four-part series of conversations. Watch the video versions of these at Dr. Meyer’s YouTube channel: @DrStephenMeyer

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0:00.0	ID the future
0:05.0	future a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.
0:12.0	Greetings I'm your host Andrew McDermott.
0:15.0	Today we continue a four-part conversation series between philosopher of signs, Dr Stephen Meyer,
0:21.0	author of signature in the cell, DNA and the Evidence for
0:24.4	intelligent design, and Dr James Tour, a world-leading synthetic organic chemist at
0:30.0	Rice University. The topic is the origin of the first life and Dr. Tours assessment of the state of origin of life research today.
0:38.0	These conversations were recorded in November and December 2022 after Dr. Tour released a series of videos in response
0:46.7	to YouTube science communicator Dave Farina and his videos attacking Dr. Tours research.
0:52.0	Dr. Turur's research.
0:53.0	Dr Turin Farina also conducted a formal debate at Rice University in May 2023.
0:59.0	But for those who are not satisfied with that debate,
1:02.0	or still have questions about the origin of life,
1:04.9	this set of conversations between Dr Meyer and Dr. Tuer should bring much needed calm and clarity. In part two, Meyer and Tuer discussed the work and of the four classes of molecules before critiquing Cronin's foremost reaction
1:24.7	experiments and his claims to have found a process that's analogous to cell division.
1:30.4	Tour also discusses the importance of chirality, as well as how amino acids behave in
1:36.0	aqueous solutions.
1:38.3	Turns out that warm little pond story we've been told for many years is chemically implausible.
1:44.6	The discussion rounds out with a reminder of the information problem, something Meyer writes about
1:49.4	at length in signature in the cell.
1:51.7	Have prebiotic chemists made any progress on the sequence specificity problem?
1:56.7	None whatsoever, says Dr. Tour.
	...

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