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I'm sure that if we put the word out we could get another two dozen theories.

But "science" needs to mean more than "speculative theories that adhere to my philosophical presuppositions".

Right, usually it's "speculative theories that we can assemble evidence for by building upon prior work and known facts about the world", which the hydrothermal vent theory is. "Science" when talking about "how did life form" will always be "speculative theories" until we crack the time-travel nut.

Science also requires a plausible mechanism and an understanding of statistics. "It must have randomly happened even though the chance was less than 1 in ten to the five hundred and twelfth" is about as far as these speculative theories have gotten so far.

The entire field of biology rests on the maxim that improbable things become probable with enough time and opportunity.

It has to be grounded in statistical reality. What do you think the sum total is of all the organisms that have ever lived on Earth?

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