All five genetic letters of DNA and RNA in an asteroid

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-just-found-all-5-genetic-letters-of-dna-and-rna-on-an-asteroid/

not saying they found DNA and such, just the gene letters that makes up our DNA and RNA.

@sonhouse said
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-just-found-all-5-genetic-letters-of-dna-and-rna-on-an-asteroid/

not saying they found DNA and such, just the gene letters that makes up our DNA and RNA.

@Ponderable said
This is hardly surprising.
I would expect in a reasonable big sample of "random" organic matrerial a lot of "simple" molecules.
So looking for these molecules if just to feed our emotion. I would rather be interested in moleculs that are difficult to make in the lab 😉

@sonhouse said
The gist is they think that stuff could short circuit the time it takes for those molecules to develop on Earth which is one of the god did it arguments.

@moonbus said
Just goes to show that the basic molecules of life are common as dirt, literally. We find them even in space debris.

@KellyJay said
Dump all the letters out of a scrabble box, and seeing them does not prove chance and necessity can string them together in a specified arrangement to form a coherent thought in words.

@vivify said
With those 5 genetic "letters" (A, G, C, T and U) you can form the following:

cat
cut
act
gut
tag
tug
cactus
tact
tutu
caucus
taut
gag

And other words. Dumbed out of a scrabble box there's a chance some of these letters could be formed.

@KellyJay said
The letter “I” could show up

@vivify said
A — adenine
G — guanine
C — cytosine
T — thymine (DNA)
U — uracil (RNA)

I = inosine

Using your analogy of a "Scrabble box", words and even simple sentences do indeed have a chance of forming because the needed elements are there.

These letters (the ingredients for life) being found in one space like an asteroid, indeed show that the components needed for life can all be in place to form by chance.

@KellyJay said
The sequence hypothesis isn’t concerned about "A" letter showing up; it is a sequence of them that will do specific work due to the arrangement of them. Just as you cannot merge English letters randomly and get a set of instructions to build anything or make a meaningful point, concern yourself only with meaning. A group of monkeys was given a typewriter, which was used ma ...[text shortened]... s they require a space on either side. Simply seeing an ingredient in a recipe does not bake a pie.

@vivify said
Earlier you used the term "coherent thought". After pointing out that simple sentences can be made, especially if you introduce "I", you now changed the goalpost to "set of instructions".

If you give the monkeys in your example a typewriter that only has the 5 or 6 letters discussed, they can form words and simple thoughts by chance.

The earliest life forms were most ...[text shortened]... nce that all the components for simple life forms can be present for to give life a chance to arise.

@vivify said
With those 5 genetic "letters" (A, G, C, T and U) you can form the following:

cat
cut
act
gut
tag
tug
cactus
tact
tutu
caucus
taut
gag

And other words. Dumbed out of a scrabble box there's a chance some of these letters could be formed.

@KellyJay said
If you want to suggest that seeing an "I" or an "A" proves your stance on being able to build a DNA strand, say so, be it.

Dump all the letters out of a Scrabble box, and seeing them does not prove chance and necessity can string them together in a specified arrangement to form a coherent thought in words.

@vivify said
You're the one who brought up the Scrabble box and typewriter analogy. Not me.

And we're not taking about "all" the letters, just the five or six mentioned in this thread.

@KellyJay said
Were these put together in such a way to build forms and features in DNA? Seeing them elsewhere, not in the sequence where they could be life-friendly, is not much evidence, but that is all you think is needed, so be it.