As I brought up earlier, there is debate on whether the universe is deterministic (Due to the basic physics of it) or random..Check out this thread for a discussion on it Biochem., its pretty good. I started on the side of free will, but eventually conceded to the deterministic view.
http://www.hypography.com/sciencefor...ead.php?t=1783
While crystalization is a very basic model, i think it is an apt example. Given specific circumstances the outcome is prdectable and ordered. Even if the sample is contaminated, the results can be reproduced if all the external factors or repeated. Abiogenisis I feel is the same way. Gven the right situaton (such as primordial Earth), life is the outcome; just as a specific crystaline structure is expected under certain conditions.
One must rememer that even primordial Earth was a
very complex system that as scientists we think we understand what the basics were like, but there is still great discussion on many aspects of what the early atmosphere was truly like, the chemistry of the oceans is still debatable, etc. And the early life did not just suddenly sprout. There were many aboitic precursors that arose that eventually were the basic inanimate parts. Proto-rna and amino acids were being formed abiotically.
This pathway is chaotic, but not random. Given the original inputs, I feel that a very similar outcome is likely.
