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In fact, only two elements - carbon and silicon - can form stable, tetrahedrally bonded 3D networks of sufficient complexity and flexibility to support recursiv
by AndrewKemendo 2y ago
In fact, only two elements - carbon and silicon - can form stable, tetrahedrally bonded 3D networks of sufficient complexity and flexibility to support recursive molecular systems at planetary temperatures
So if there’s going to be another system with equivalent complexity it’s going to either be another carbon based thing or a silicon based thing
- IAmBroom 2y agoTHIS is it. People are positing silly extrapolations ("We can make steel stronger than bones, so we can make silicon computers smarter/volume than organic ones"). It eventually comes down to organic chemistry versus non-organic chemistry. Organic chemistry has far greater dimensions of freedom (ways to combine/exchange energy) to exploit unique nonbinary computational systems. For a macro instance, eyes process "lines" and "spots" by combining neural patterns before the signals even reach the brain, and from this can identify vertical obstacles (like trees in a forest) and threats (like pairs of predator eyes) more quickly at lower energy. But likewise, neurons are not limited to exchanging electrons via a single modality (voltage exceeding threshold). Neurotransmitter chemicals can alter local or systemwide thresholds for certain cells; this amounts to massive preprocessing that silicon can only roughly imitate with massive design efforts (which were effectively done by evolution in the organisms).