# James Tour's Series on Abiogenesis

**URL:** <https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/james-tours-series-on-abiogenesis/13203>\
**Category:** Conversation\
**Tags:** Science, Communication\
**Created:** [February 13, 2021, 12:15am UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/james-tours-series-on-abiogenesis/13203 "2021-02-13T00:15:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![thoughtful](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/thoughtful/32/9230_2.png) [@thoughtful](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/thoughtful)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 12:15am UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/james-tours-series-on-abiogenesis/13203/1 "2021-02-13T00:15:13Z")

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So I got a notification about this promo video for Tour’s series on abiogenesis yesterday

[![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/peacefulscience/original/3X/2/7/2759c9bc418c6fa6f77d12a03d75fa8993e455ac.jpeg "Illuminating the Fog Masking Life's Origin: A Course on Abiogenesis") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-RvMStTkx4)

Today, I got a notification for this video clip from Peaceful Science.

[![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/peacefulscience/original/2X/1/1c7d1128115e2edf53da7a5862edd6010ee57db6.jpeg "While James Tour Endorsed Joshua Swamidass's Book, This is One Area Where These Friends Disagree") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SVoMAOqF08)

Clever marketing? Just a coincidence? 🙂

So it will be interesting to see if Tour covers the idea of the most primitive cell as @swamidass mentions.

I’d also be interested if anyone wants to critique the series after it’s complete.

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**Author:** ![swamidass](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/swamidass/32/3_2.png) [@swamidass](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/swamidass)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 12:47am UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/james-tours-series-on-abiogenesis/13203/2 "2021-02-13T00:47:22Z")

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Actually, it’s just a coincidence. I didn’t even know the team was putting that out!

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**Author:** ![thoughtful](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/thoughtful/32/9230_2.png) [@thoughtful](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/thoughtful)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 2:50am UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/james-tours-series-on-abiogenesis/13203/3 "2021-02-13T02:50:56Z")

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I figured but it was fun to imagine.

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**Author:** ![Rumraket](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/rumraket/32/9328_2.png) [@Rumraket](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/Rumraket)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 3:54pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/james-tours-series-on-abiogenesis/13203/4 "2021-02-13T15:54:26Z")

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What could Tour possibly have to say that needs to be spread out into a series?  
Just one episode after another dedicated to the topics:  
Episode 1: How did X?  
Episode 2: I don’t know.  
Episode 3: They don’t know.  
Episode 4: Nobody knows, _they’re clueless_.  
Episode 5: If you don’t know _everything_, then you don’t know **anything.**  
Episode 6: I make tiny cars and it’s hard.  
Episode 7: All I ever talk about is Jack Szostak and John Sutherland’s work on the chemical synthesis of RNA, but I have no idea about the relevance or context of RNA to life’s origin because one problem is I never talk about what exactly life is and thus where in some series of events one might say we should consider it to have begun.  
Episode 8: They _buy_ the chemicals instead of _wishing_ them into existence, that’s cheating. Where were the chemical stores 4 billion years ago? Checkmate!  
Episode 9: My fans think mine and other people’s ignorance indicates the impossibility of life’s origin.  
Episode 10: Scientists exaggerate the results of their research in the popular press in the origin of life field too, so something about a Big Darwinist Conspiracy in science.  
Episode 11: I actually don’t know anything about the literature on very early evolution or evidence from very early periods in the history of life, nor do I know anything about phylogenetic comparative methods, the tree of life, or general natural history, nor evidence for endosymbiotic theory, so I will frequently pose questions about “where did X come from” speaking of eukaryotic characters and attributes as if these had to have come into existence at the origin of life.

In season 2 we take turns saying “oohh” and “ahhh” when looking at complex things in life.

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**Author:** ![Faizal\_Ali](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/faizal_ali/32/12416_2.png) [@Faizal\_Ali](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/Faizal_Ali)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 3:54pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/james-tours-series-on-abiogenesis/13203/5 "2021-02-13T15:54:31Z")

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I think Dr. Tour should watch his coffee intake.

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**Author:** ![thoughtful](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/thoughtful/32/9230_2.png) [@thoughtful](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/thoughtful)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 5:56pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/james-tours-series-on-abiogenesis/13203/6 "2021-02-13T17:56:32Z")

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You could share how you really feel. 😐 Watch the video he’s responding to. You were complimentary by comparison.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/peacefulscience/original/2X/6/6b7bf72453a5c60b0919b6b89a27dc18bc52382c.png) [@system](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 5:56pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/james-tours-series-on-abiogenesis/13203/7 "2021-02-20T17:56:58Z")

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