>The problem is that new replicators would readily be assimilated one
>way or another by microorganisms. There are bacteria even in
>underoceanic volcanoes... No chance for them to survive. Compared to a
>landscape full of life, an abiotic environment can actually be
>considered as a period of grace... 8)

No they would have been either burned up or destroyed
by  the sun/UV. Your replicator can't hide from my sun.
And remember you can't have it both ways - you can't get your energy from the
sun AND at the same time escape its UV rays.

(snipped)

>There has to be diversity from the very beginning or your replicators
>have to anticipate many possible circumstances in their structure.

I suggest a sun CYCLE. We have a range of temperatures that allows for some
diversity within that range. Thus there would be prebiotic material that is
diverse, and there would be monomers that are diverse,  etc.
But all of the above would FIRST be stable in the sun/uv heat cycle.
It's later that out of that 'sun selection' pool, the best to move forward with
other novel ways of surivivng the heat (replication, metabolism, cells, ATP)
would be selected in phase two "chemical selection"

1. sun selection on the earth
2. chemical selection on prebiotic material that survives the sun selection
3. natural selection on the first replicator that comes out of chemical
selection etc.

Comment?
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 * RgateImp.MoonDog.BBS at 10/16/04 9:48:47 PM