Readers say scientists can, indeed, knock on heaven’s door

The statement by Keith Schofield that “we have no theory … on the biggest question: how life originated” needs correction. Quite the contrary, we have and continue to develop such theories. They have led to a variety of experimental and analytical approaches that have yielded steady, if slow, progress in understanding that very fundamental problem. Undoubtedly, some theories are dead ends, but that does not mean that improved understanding is impossible or that the quest for it reflects “arrogance.”

Experimental approaches to the synthesis of prebiotic compounds have a long history and have produced striking results concerning the prebiotic synthesis not only of numerous amino acids and other simple compounds but also of nucleosides, the very basis of the polymers essential to life as we know it. Experiments have also demonstrated the feasibility of abiotic polymerization of such building blocks. The literature on the topic is so extensive that even a casual online search will lead to dozens of articles. That abundance does not, of course, prove a particular pathway to life itself; an experimental approach to that is probably impossible.

Such studies in no way show arrogance. They are simply a continuation of scientific efforts aimed at understanding our admittedly complex universe. That is what science does.