In spite of intensive research, scientists are still very much in the dark about the mechanism that transformed a nonliving chemical soup into a living cell. But without knowing the process that produced life, the odds of its happening can’t be estimated.
I agree that not knowing the process that produces life precludes any accurate estimates. I do believe, however, that we can reasonably infer that if life happened naturally on earth it can happen elsewhere in the universe (unless we wish to appeal to a divine creator that created life on earth for a specific purpose).
Sure, but saying that it could happen isn't the same as saying that it has happened, and even if we assume that it has, and it would only be an assumption, we still can't say how frequently or under what conditions. For all we know, life might be an astonishingly rare, and short-lived, phenomenon. For all we know, we're it, no matter how badly we want to believe otherwise. We can believe that if we wish, but it doesn't necessarily follow from the premise that life here might have been a freak occurrence.we can reasonably infer that if life happened naturally on earth it can happen elsewhere
unless we wish to appeal to a divine creator that created life on earth for a specific purpose