Raw materials for life

[Mercer (John Mercer)]

@Geremy

So it is safe to say that they are very inefficient, so I am obviously not making that up. This probably is why ribozymes are only used to catalyze some reactions in the cell,

I don’t see that as a reasonable “why” in the context of design. Relative inefficiency would dictate that ribozymes wouldn’t be used at all.

@Geremy

while protein enzymes can catalyze most of the reactions that happen in a cell, with the notable exceptions of the ribosome and the spliceosome,

Yes, those exceptions are notable, because there aren’t any extant protein alternatives. The RNA World hypothesis explains/predicts these relics very well.

@Geremy

but even in these two cases these ribozymes need proteins to self assemble and function.

That’s an objectively false claim.

Even if it were true, it doesn’t do anything to falsify the RNA World hypothesis, because these ribozymes have been evolving for billions of years. There’s no reason why peptidyl transferase wouldn’t acquire a frame of proteins. Again, the reaction center has zero protein participation. How do you explain that in the context of design?

@Geremy

Chiral based spin selectivity is a real process that has not been integrated into origin of life speculations,

That’s another objectively false claim, as @Rumraket pointed out recently:

Is the "chiral-induced spin-selectivity" mechanism for homochirality progress in the origin of life field?

I mention this particularly because creationists have been invoking the concept of “spin-selectivity”, which sounds really technical and scientific to bring up, as some sort of insurmountable obstacle to the origin of homochirality and life. https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.adg8274 S. Furkan Ozturk et al., Origin of biological homochirality by crystallization of an RNA precursor on a magnetic surface.Sci. Adv. 9, eadg8274 (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adg8274 Abstract Homochirality is a signature of life on Earth, yet its origins remain an unsolved puzzle. Achieving homochirality is essential for a high-yielding prebiotic network capable of producing functional polymers like RNA and peptides on a persistent basis. Because of the chiral-induced spin selectivity effect, which established a strong coupling between electron spin and molecular chirality, magnetic surfaces can act as chiral agents and be templates for the enantioselective crystallization of chiral molecules.…

@Geremy

I think it will hurt them

I don’t, but then I have significant experience working in biochemistry, unlike Tour. Your bizarre personalization of science (“hurt”) is revealing in its polemicism. Normally, real scientists tend to depersonalize these matters and refer to supporting or falsifying hypotheses, not people.

@Geremy

…but I realize that you may have never even heard about it…

Again, you’re dead wrong.

@Geremy

so if you like here’s a video made by James Tour on the subject:

Why should anyone seeking truth treat Tour as some sort of expert? Is he a biochemist?