More quotes by Nick Lane
Protocells of some sort [lie between a hydrothermal vent system and a virus] in my mind.
I do like this quote from Simon Conway Morris that if the aliens call then don't pick up the phone.
There has to be thermodynamic underpinnings for it, otherwise it wouldn't happen.
Attribution
Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Nick Lane (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.