Tariq Ali: "This is neither intended to negate scientists nor scientific endeavour, but merely remind us that scientific advice must be tempered by a strong dose of common sense before public policy is altered." dhw: "To this very pertinent concluding remark, I'd just like to add that scientific speculation concerning origins, consciousness and the existence of God should also be tempered by a strong dose of common sense before dogmatic conclusions are drawn."-Common sense tells me that there definitely cannot be a God in any traditional sense, that the "problem of consciousness" is highly overrated, and that life pretty certainly arose from non-life by natural processes not requiring the intervention of preexisting intelligent beings.