3) I am very interested in how evolution started—Dawkins references a soup of chemicals, and then the creation of the first replicator mainly by chance over a very long period of time. Is that accurate?
You are not the only one. :)
Most of the current thinking around abiogenesis involves the so-called ‘RNA world’, after observations of messenger RNA molecules (a single strand of ‘naked’ genetic polymer floating around the cell, rather than the double DNA helix). Because complementary nucleotides attract one another to varying degrees, a given nucleotide sequence in mRNA will clump the molecule up in a predictable way. Also, an ‘unraveled’ mRNA molecule would tend to attract complementary nucleotides from outside the molecule and align them in to a similar polymer. In a nucleotide-rich environment, mRNA might be capable of reproduction. Therefore, within the scope of a single molecule, you have a genotype that is directly expressed with a phenotype, and that phenotype would affect the lifespan of the molecule and therefore its chances of reproduction- a plausible origin for natural selection.
My favorite treatment of this scenario (and its problems) is found in Major Transitions in Evolution, also by John Maynard Smith. There’s also Origins of Order by Kauffman, although it’s a much more theoretical treatment, and I’m not sure the returns on investment are all that good.
You are not the only one. :)
Most of the current thinking around abiogenesis involves the so-called ‘RNA world’, after observations of messenger RNA molecules (a single strand of ‘naked’ genetic polymer floating around the cell, rather than the double DNA helix). Because complementary nucleotides attract one another to varying degrees, a given nucleotide sequence in mRNA will clump the molecule up in a predictable way. Also, an ‘unraveled’ mRNA molecule would tend to attract complementary nucleotides from outside the molecule and align them in to a similar polymer. In a nucleotide-rich environment, mRNA might be capable of reproduction. Therefore, within the scope of a single molecule, you have a genotype that is directly expressed with a phenotype, and that phenotype would affect the lifespan of the molecule and therefore its chances of reproduction- a plausible origin for natural selection.
My favorite treatment of this scenario (and its problems) is found in Major Transitions in Evolution, also by John Maynard Smith. There’s also Origins of Order by Kauffman, although it’s a much more theoretical treatment, and I’m not sure the returns on investment are all that good.