[nomel]

> that a human body could theoretically spontaneously form out of particles given a long enough time span.

To be fair, isn't this precisely what happened?

[dilawar]

If you leave out "spontaneously"!

[_carbyau_]

Specifically if you leave it in! It's a matter of viewpoint or scope.

"Spontaneous" can be defined a few different ways: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spontaneous

From the link "2: arising from a momentary impulse" you get the implied meaning from the original comment if you assume standard human experience of a "moment" IE a few seconds or less.

However you could argue that human evolution is but a moment in the scope of the universe.

And then with definition "5: developing or occurring without apparent external influence, force, cause, or treatment"

The only way it wouldn't be spontaneous would be if an external actor (Deity of your choice?) directed human evolution somehow. To say this is debatable is an understatement..

And so we have fun in word play and hopefully appreciation of different viewpoints.

:-)

edit: rearranged for better flow

[dj_mc_merlin]

"Oh, that was easy," says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing."