ABSTRACT
C. B. Thaxton and co-workers examine the legitimacy of utilising 'traps', a technique that is commonly employed in simulation studies in which energy sources such as heat and spark discharge are used to promote specific chemical reactions. The trap is arranged so as to allow removal of small amounts of a reaction product as it forms. Simulation experiments also have an element of 'hygienic unreality' about them. Although Thaxton and colleagues were writing at a time before much of the recent work on RNA and DNA-like systems was carried out, it is entirely appropriate to apply the same criticism to these so-called 'clever' molecular systems. In support of an entirely naturalistic explanation for the origin of life, it is often argued that the scientist's intervention is legitimate because it is merely a way of speeding up a process that would, if left to its own devices, eventually succeed anyway.
