If we graphically displayed the positions of the atoms at the end of the simulation, would we find that cars and trucks had formed, or that supercomputers had arisen? Certainly we would not Ah, the always popular proof by assertion. It may interest you to know that evolutionary algorithms are a common programming technique, using recombination and mutation and fitness functions which result in increasingly better solutions. ("But it takes intelligence to create the evolutionary algorithms!" Yes, and a creator could have configured the initial conditions of the universe, or even seeded the first life forms; the theory of evolution doesn't forbid either).
It does interest me :) , in fact... I have written a few programs based on the paradigm often called "evolutionary algorithm"... is it essentially a probabilistic search technique for optimal values. Evolutionary algorithms don't produce anything new, just find different parameters..
x[t+1] = s( v( x[t]) )
where x[t] is the population under a representation at time t, v(.) is the variation operator(s), and s(.) is the selection operator
These algorithms are nifty but only if the selection operator and variation operator, and termination condition are very carefully designed. "But it takes intelligence to create the evolutionary algorithms!" You are absolutely correct....In fact I know from experience that it is actually easy to write one which will never converge on the optimal set of parameters especially if the search space doesn't have natural "hills and valleys" (doesn't fit hill climbing algorithms). These algorithms require a highly ordered/designed computational device capable of running the same set of designed instructions over and over and over again with out error.
An interesting probability model is calculating the probability of trying to assemble life from non-life purely by chance and natural process:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1689062/posts?page=185#185
a) Calculations of Sir Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe for random generation of a simple enzyme and calculations for a single celled bacterium.
b) Calculations of Hubert Yockey for random generation of a single molecule of iso-1-cytochrome c protein.
c) Calculations of Bradley and Thaxton for random production of a single protein.
d) Calculations of Harold Morowitz for single celled bacterium developing from accidental or chance processes.
e) Calculations of Bernd-Olaf Kuppers for the random generation of the sequence of a bacterium.