As the other commenter noted, "letting a bunch of molecules sit around" was precisely where we got intelligence from in the first place.
So it is possible that we reach AI just by randomly permuting connections and weights. Of course it's more likely we intelligently set (or "evolve") these connections and weights, but this allows us to set an upper bound on computation/time needed.
So it is possible that we reach AI just by randomly permuting connections and weights. Of course it's more likely we intelligently set (or "evolve") these connections and weights, but this allows us to set an upper bound on computation/time needed.