Origin of life: Tangled skein continues to tangle

Here is a report from Ed Pelter on the current state - actually statelessness - of origin of life research. Here's a summary of some of the issues, by the way.

Personally, I am fascinated by the speculation around origin of life, just as I love listening to discussions of why Rome fell. But one thing especially intrigues me: Materialists both deny that intelligence is necessary for the universe to exist, yet insist that they will somehow find out how life accidentally originated. This is a really interesting disconnect because if the universe is indeed a great thought rather than a great machine, the great mind might leave clues for little minds. But if it is just the materialist's cosmic void, maybe nada.