Warp wrote:
> nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
>> carbon-based life.
> 
>   Has any form of (intelligent) complex life which is not based on chemistry
> similar to our own, and/or which is not heavily dependent on water, been
> even seriously conjectured?
> 
>   Complex life (ie. anything more complicated than something resembling a
> virus) requires certain molecular structures, which in turn require certain
> chemistry and certain chemical elements to appear in certain proportions.

Carbon-based complex life certainly. ;)

Fact is we're used to what we're used to.  We've never seen any other 
life, carbon-based or not.  BTW, this conversation just reminds me of 
the XKCD strip of today someone posted here.

>   For example, anything even remotely resembling proteins requires molecules
> with certain structures and certain elements to be stable and feasible. If
> these elements are not abundant enough, such complex molecules simply cannot
> form.

Reality is quite different inside neutron stars.  There is the 
possibility of giant earth-like worlds made of hot ice.  If 
self-replicating organisms would evolve in some of these environments, 
how'd they turn out to be made of?

not really suggesting life would be possible inside stars, just 
enumerating the weird places this universe has got...

>   Also even non-carbon-based life won't survive a collision with an
> enormous celestial body. No matter how exotic your lifeforms are, they
> will most probably not survive if their planet collides with a star.

But they could send their last child to a world with a yellow sun! ;)

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