That is a bit of a strange response, IMO. I don't know if you can be bothered with continuing our OOL discussion here - but, as you probably know, I don't think there's any good evidence that Cairns-Smith was incorrect - from Wachtershauser - or anyone else - and if you know differently, I would be delighted to hear about it!

Maybe that's not what you are saying. Maybe you are just saying that you think Wachtershauser provided a complete story that you find parsimonious - and which doesn't require earlier stages. That would not be so newsworthy for me, I already know all that.