Nick Szabo  🔑

@gwern @cinnamon_carter It's not a niche if no organism has chemical ability to exploit it.

@gwern @cinnamon_carter Niches that required photosynthesis, nitrogen fixing, and even many far simpler capabilities were unavailable.

@NickSzabo4 @cinnamon_carter Nevertheless, early Earth would have a great variety of organic chemicals to harvest. That is a big opportunity

@gwern @cinnamon_carter What kinds of organics? What 150 base pair ecosystem could exploit them? Be specific stop hand-waving.

@NickSzabo4 @cinnamon_carter It would use the amino acids and nuclear acids floating around, you know that. The usual abiogenesis proposals.

@gwern @cinnamon_carter A 150 base pair ecosystem can't catch, much less put to use, most of the amino & nuclear acids floating around.

@NickSzabo4 @cinnamon_carter Why does it need to catch to grow or spread or evolve w/o competition? Does not catching prove panspermia?

@gwern @cinnamon_carter Many far more likely places in universe to find stable amino+nucleic acid soup than bombardment-era Earth.