[pecg]

I'm not a scientist by any means, but since childhood when I was first exposed to the fact that life on Earth needs oxygen (and many other things, in extremely basic terms) to exist, I've been thinking to myself what if there are other distant planets where life has bootstrapped itself from completely different (or maybe opposite) components and conditions. I'm sure someone with more knowledge than I in biology and physics would certainly be able to offer a good explanation or thought.

[jbattle]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothetical_types_of_biochemi...

Silicon has a lot of chemical possibilities similar to carbon.

Also methane can perform a lot of the same functions as liquid water (though at very different temperatures).

[taeric]

I think the problem there is simply the fact that it isn't knowable. If there is a way for life to be that different, how do you look for it?

My first statement is likely stronger than it needs to be. My main question back to you is, how do you look for something that you imagine may exist, but couldn't say how?

[pecg]

> My first statement is likely stronger than it needs to be. My main question back to you is, how do you look for something that you imagine may exist, but couldn't say how?

I certainly agree with you, thus seeking for life similar than ours is the only feasible way to spend time in deep space research; we cannot look for something different, because we don't know what to look for.

[taeric]

My apologies on the very late response, but if you haven't read it, I recommend the book The Eerie Silence. Covers a lot of this general idea.

https://smile.amazon.com/Eerie-Silence-Renewing-Search-Intel...