Current Events > What if we are the only carbon based life in the galaxy?

(+) Yeah! (+)

imagine if it turns out that silicon based life is the norm, and earth is the only weirdo planet that has carbon based life. We end up getting our star trek future, but all the aliens look like that rock guy in the Thor movies

More carbon for me then

I've thought about this, as well. We understand carbon as being necessary building blocks for life because we are limited to our understanding of life via Earth. I think it's plausible life could develop differently and we just can't currently comprehend it due to that limited understanding.

Evolution played with this idea in a cool and fun way.

Silicon life only works on paper it doesn't work for real. Silicon Dioxide is solid so whatever atmosphere is on the planet would have to be so hot that they would exhale vaporized rock. Basically you're looking at a planet of lava monsters.

Of course you can keep changing things up by saying the guys doing need oxygen or water! At which point you might as well ask why even need DNA at all then?

All cute thought experiments but there's just no way to take organic DNA and swap out the carbon for silicon and have it work.

Silicon outnumbers carbon on earth by like 999999999999999999:1 and yet life formed around carbon anyway.

Silicone-based life is basically impossible. Here's a discussion of why.

https://youtu.be/2nbsFS_rfqM?si=DBoq5t2FvJsz_ifN

I find it really weird that we're so fixated on this life thing.

Maybe we should just see what's out there instead of specifically searching for this one dumb thing that's turned out miserably for our planet anyway.

Nah there are others trust me

Tyranthraxus posted...

Silicon life only works on paper it doesn't work for real. Silicon Dioxide is solid so whatever atmosphere is on the planet would have to be so hot that they would exhale vaporized rock. Basically you're looking at a planet of lava monsters.

Of course you can keep changing things up by saying the guys doing need oxygen or water! At which point you might as well ask why even need DNA at all then?

All cute thought experiments but there's just no way to take organic DNA and swap out the carbon for silicon and have it work.

Silicon outnumbers carbon on earth by like 999999999999999999:1 and yet life formed around carbon anyway.

I have a concept for fantasy/scifi story in which some shenanigans caused a portal to open in another dimension and a silicon based crystalline lifeform that have semiconductivity get brought into the world and cause problems.

The concept is these crystalline creatures are mostly immobile and grow like plants in their home world, but their crystalline structures can conduct electricity in some manners and became their neuron-adjacent by basically becoming a naturally forming computers. When they got brought into the human world, somehow they can assimilate with organic being's neural and nervous system if the offspring crystal seed interact with corpses.

In their world, they are immobile, and barely conscious, they are just self replicating crystalline structure with some rudimentary sensory, but assimilated with dead organic being's neural path they can gain mobility, sentience and gain the characteristics of the host's species. They just kinda grew from hosting wild animals corpses but eventually they got ahold of human corpses and gained true sapience. The gist is when humans discovered them, they retaliate from fear and disgust on how the crystal aliens "reproduce" by basically consuming a fresh cadaver to reanimate them and started calling them demons. The "demons" arent inherently violent nor they can infect living beings, but the fact they are born from corpses disgust many humans and war broke between 2 species.

That's the gist really i havent worked out the details but i think it's pretty cool.

apolloooo posted...

I have a concept for fantasy/scifi story in which some shenanigans caused a portal to open in another dimension and a silicon based crystalline lifeform that have semiconductivity get brought into the world and cause problems.

The concept is these crystalline creatures are mostly immobile and grow like plants in their home world, but their crystalline structures can conduct electricity in some manners and became their neuron-adjacent by basically becoming a naturally forming computers. When they got brought into the human world, somehow they can assimilate with organic being's neural and nervous system if the offspring crystal seed interact with corpses.

In their world, they are immobile, and barely conscious, they are just self replicating crystalline structure with some rudimentary sensory, but assimilated with dead organic being's neural path they can gain mobility, sentience and gain the characteristics of the host's species. They just kinda grew from hosting wild animals corpses but eventually they got ahold of human corpses and gained true sapience. The gist is when humans discovered them, they retaliate from fear and disgust on how the crystal aliens "reproduce" by basically consuming a fresh cadaver to reanimate them and started calling them demons. The "demons" arent inherently violent nor they can infect living beings, but the fact they are born from corpses disgust many humans and war broke between 2 species.

That's the gist really i havent worked out the details but i think it's pretty cool.

Interesting idea

apolloooo posted...

That's the gist really i havent worked out the details but i think it's pretty cool.

My suggestion is don't bother trying to justify it in science. Just say you have crystal plant things and leave it at that.