dhw: I have as many reservations about this hypothesis as I have about the hypotheses of Chance and of an eternally conscious form of energy that knows how to build a universe and life even before it's turned itself into matter. But I think it is just as worthy of serious consideration as those alternatives.-You should have 'many reservations' about your hypothesis. I have even more. I will not budge from my contention that individual cells are basically automatic biochemical factories.However, when put together as an organism, I will grant that organisms have a degree of epigenetic adaptability which allows for rapid responses to environmental challenges. Since this is a part of the genetic code, and codes are the result of intelligent conscious planning (at least among humans), one cannot avoid looking at the origin of such an arrangement.