Are we Carbon based life, proton-proton based life, string based life, or...

[S = k log w]

Are we Carbon based life, proton-proton based life, space-time based life, string based life, or what?

[einsteinian77]

Aren't we carbon based life forms? I guess you could say our minds somehow incorporate space-time into thinking process because how else could we have such a unique understanding of how it works. There is also the electricity that runs through our bodies that could suggest a deeper connection between us and the universe other than just some complex configuration of atoms,who knows. I'm not too sure what you exactly mean by that question.

[selfAdjoint]

Everything is spacetime based. All matter is particle (maybe string) based. But life is specifically based on carbon chemistry.

[jimmy p]

I would say that we are carbon based lifeforms, because that is the norm i suppose. What if there was another type of life-form that wasnt carbon-based (i dunno, for example, aliens that were silicon based), if they were classed as proton-proton based or string based then u are classifying just about everything known into one super-group. Also its easier to understand being carbon based then part of quantum theory or string theory ...well thats what i think anyway! [g)]

[S = k log w]

With the discovery of the Fullerene, do we need to qualify what we mean when we say "carbon" based life? Perhaps it may be Non-Buckey-carbon based life.

[Chemicalsuperfreak]

Originally posted by S = k log w
With the discovery of the Fullerene, do we need to qualify what we mean when we say "carbon" based life? Perhaps it may be Non-Buckey-carbon based life.

Just because fullerene is made of carbon doesn't mean carbon is fullerene. We never said non-diamond-carbon-based life, or non-pencil-lead-carbon based life.

[Mike H]

So we are instead based upon graphite and/or diamond chemistry, then? Those are the only other known allotropes of carbon, last I checked. This of course sounds totally silly to me, but anyway.

You could probably make a significantly better case for us being water-based life, given that the main component in most organisms is water.

ETA: Must have started my reply after CSF replied. Blargh.

[einsteinian77]

but water is a given, its what water is in combination with that renders the earth life trademark.