> effectively impossible because there are still some steps that we simply do not know how to get past via random processes To be clear, there is always a lowe

> effectively impossible because there are still some steps that we simply do not know how to get past via random processes To be clear, there is always a lower bound on this probability that comes from brute force randomness (e.g., a quantum fluctuation in which all the molecules of a bacteria assemble spontaneously). This lower bound is extremely, extremely tiny, taking the form 10^(-10^(large)), and there are almost certainly easier ways to make a simpler replicator that later evolves to become a bacteria. But since we don't have an upper bound on the volume of the universe, and we don't have evidence for life arising somewhere else in our observable universe, it's formally possible that it's simply that stupendously rare (but still not impossible).