You make the “metabolism first” school of thought sound like a minority contrarian position to the mainstream “genes first” hypothesis. I was under the impression that they were simply competing hypotheses with the jury being still out on the big question. That’s how they presented the issue in my astrobiology class, anyway.
It was a minority, contrarian position just a decade ago. But Wachtershauser’s position is not just “metabolism first”. It is also “strictly autotrophic” and “lipid first”. So I think it is still fair to call it a minority opinion.
You make the “metabolism first” school of thought sound like a minority contrarian position to the mainstream “genes first” hypothesis. I was under the impression that they were simply competing hypotheses with the jury being still out on the big question. That’s how they presented the issue in my astrobiology class, anyway.
It was a minority, contrarian position just a decade ago. But Wachtershauser’s position is not just “metabolism first”. It is also “strictly autotrophic” and “lipid first”. So I think it is still fair to call it a minority opinion.