>There is no selective advantage for the chemicals to form increasingly
>complex patterns. There are just so many chemicals all bouncing around
>and reacting with each other somewhat randomly on a huge planet, and in
>places,certain chemical systems *happen* to form which, because of the
>particular way they are arranged, happen to have the property of causing
>the surrounding environment to form very similar chemical systems, which
>also have the property of causing very similar systems to be
>formed..[TRUNCATED]
Well, you've just about convinced me with your strong argument. Stil, we
have quite a way to go to create biological self-replicating systems in
the laboratory, but maybe it will happen some day.