(urth) note Re: Short Sun blog

[James Wynn]

  On 9/27/2010 2:51 PM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 12:46 PM, Nick Lee<starwaterstrain at gmail.com>  wrote:
>
>> Also, this idea that aliens could be
>> non-carbon based is just wild theory. We have no idea what aliens would look
>> like, and in all likelihood they are carbon-based because that's easiest way
>> for life to arise.
> While it's true that 100% of the life forms we know are carbon based,
> we are looking at a very localized sample. We have no idea what
> chemical or other bases may actually produce life. Any physical
> structure which can replicate itself (just-slightly-imperfectly), and
> exists in an environment in which it can do so, is likely to become
> some sort of life.

Still there's presumably nothing to have prevented a non-carbon-based 
life form from having occurred on Earth along side a carbon-based 
version. On the other hand, even though the carbon-based version 
appeared on Earth --in geologic terms-- as soon as the planet was cool 
enough to do so, it only happened here once in 3.5 billion years. So 
maybe carbon isn't all that likely an element either.

~u+16b9