Possible Alien Life

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by Moontanman

I agree that limiting ourselves to DNA might cause us to miss life but to limit our selves to carbon might do the same thing. Silicon is less than likely due to more than atomic abundance. If life with some odd element is possible then the universe is big enough for it to occure eventually.

Indeed. What’s more, under some scenarios, “eventually” might be much sooner than one might think.

I’m reminded of Robert Forward’s 1980 novel “Dragon’s Egg”, which describes a ecosystem on the surface of a neutron star, where, despite some relativistic slow-down, chemical reactions (including those responsible for though in intelligent animals) occur about 1 million times faster than in the rest of the low-gravity universe, and are very odd. This 1-year:30 second ratio makes for difficult communication, and a multi-generation history from pre-history to advanced technology spanning 6000 years:2 days.

I consider "Dragon’s Egg" required reading for exobiology enthusiasts.