Silicon-Based Lifeforms
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- In the grandeur of the universe, the tapestry of life may be woven from stranger threads than we ever dared to dream, and spun from materials far different to our own.
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Silicon-Based Lifeforms
Episode 426; December 21, 2023
Produced, Written & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur
Graphics: Ken York / YD Visual
Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound epidemicsound.c...
IT’S ARTHURS DAY!!🎉🎉
Happy day Isaac?
@@ogpeekhal Yes
Happy Arthur's day 🎉🎉 lol
I case it's not fake news, happy birthday 🎉
I see what you did there.😏
I'm reminded of a fantasy I spun for a friend in which I described Neptunians trying to imagine the inhabitants of Sol-III, "fiery beings with molten ice in their veins...!"
The key argument I've heard against silicon-based life is that, while silicon can create some variety of polymer structures, it's a VERY limited list (that we know of), compared to Carbon being able to form hundreds of different polymers. That variety of carbon-based polymers is crucial to carbon being the basis of life on Earth. Silicon lacking that variety would mean life based on it would be severely limited, if at all possible.
Also, the imagery of silicon-based life always having crystals on their bodies just because 'silicon makes crystals' always bugs me. Carbon makes crystals, too. You don't see that in carbon-based life, though.
Yes, and yes.
This comment validates my previous knowledge so I like it.
The main reason why silicon life is impossible is because you can't rly have a silicone cycle when SiO2 is a solid with a high melting point and the temperature where you can have a silicone cycle will render other molecules instable.
On the other hand compare it with carbon based life where the carbon cycle is mediated through CO2 which is a gas
@@viermidebutura Does that make silicon-based life *_impossible,_* or just harder? There's a difference.
Remember that life seems to be run by the Seabees, who respond to the word "impossible" with a John Wayne snarl and an "Oh, yeah?"
@@christopherbaby3842 Thank you for keeping a watch out for one of the most dangerous errors of reason.
Yay. Nothing beats an episode from Mr. Arthur! I'll get my drink and snack ready.
10:50 Cthonian planets? No thanks Isaac, one Horus Heresy was cringe enough for me.
Issac Arthur: There might be silicone-quartz life on Cthonian planet's.
IFRYRCE: Yes Inquisitor, this man right here.
Somewhere in Andromeda there is a silicon guy saying carbon life could be possible
"You think they'd use something as ridiculously volatile as oxygen as their respiration gas? Absurd!"
@@harbl99honestly it is. If it weren't for photosynthesis molecular oxygen would be found in excess in the atmosphere at least not on earth. So they might not even contemplate it the same way we dont contemplate molecules of chlorine in the atmosphere
Edit: im not discounting that silicon guy breathing chlorine gas through some alien chemistry 😛
More likely they'd be jealous of not being carbon based, just by how much more resilient and versatile that would make them
@@512TheWolf512 i definitely think alien biochemistry ends up allowing for life in conditions we could not imagine. So they'd be as jealous of us as we are of them😅
And he probably assumes that we'd be plated in diamonds the same way Isaac assumes they'd be plated in quartz.
This is perfect as I am working on a game where one of the species will be based on Silicon. THANKS FOR MAKING THIS!
Glad to help, good luck on the game!
What game you working on man
Id like to play that game
@@josecano326 I'll be posting updates soon. A playable demo is almost ready.
I may release either through steam or Kickstarter.
@@NoTimeLeft_ how can I keep up with updates?
I wonder what, if anything, we find on Titan. Imagine finding life of a totally different composition in our own solar system.
You need a totally new form of enzyme chemistry to get Bio chemistry, At such low temperatures.
@@uncleanunicorn4571 Not entirely impossible, what of the red stuff they thought was bio matter out there ?
@@uncleanunicorn4571I think the same. It's a bit of a stretch. It's not because it looks like a mini earth that it will ever have enough energy around to even sprout life. Enceladus with it's big brine-ocean might harbour some life that probably looks very much like earth's early life.
We have deep-sea life here on Earth that feeds upon geothermal energy and little else. So I could easily see a Jovian equivalent to tube worms living beneath frozen oceans.
@@KevinRoboticsEDUtrue. We don't know what's down there as well as what's out there. The void and the abyss are both mysterious if you will
15:56 heard this as "very long dune-ass sandworm" at first and I was like hell yeah Isaac, cut loose
"Get a load of that huge-ass dune-ass sandworm" - Isaac Arthur
Now I wish I'd said that instead of Dune-esque :)
This channel is so underrated
I've been subscribed sine the great attractor episode so may years ago but had to make a new account recently. Guess I have to go back through and give every video a new like now.
I think it could be worth discussing botworlds such as Stanislav from Orion’s Arm, basically evolved but non-sentient machine life with self modification run amok and essentially coalescing into a machine ecosystem.
I always loved that idea, like Venus from Warframe! Old machines designed to work together in a self-sustaining ecosystem having gone amok and turned into a whole bionosphere.
We have some silicone based life forms right here on earth. They usually also have a dash of Botox based body parts, as they are believed to extend the shelf-life of that life form.
Love it!! Glad you guys are cranking out episodes still
Brilliant work as per usual!
Life’s weird…. I was an average student who stumbled through school to eventually find a niche as a social worker. Never really liked science. Now I’m an Isaac Arthur fanboy who can barely wait for the next episode 😊
Probably never had science presented in a way that would grab your interest.
I’m a huuuuge fanboy of Isaac lol 😂❤ this is one of if not the best channels on TH-cam. 🎉
Same imagine him being your high school science teacher. With AI soon we'll all be able to have him as one lol.
My favorite silicon based lifeform is the Horta.
My favorite are the Changelings from DS9
I keep thinking of Steven Universe myself 😅
For Silicon-based life to emerge anywhere you would need some extremely funky niche circumstances to be in place. I suspect it's extremely rare and very simple. Honestly if it does exist anywhere I'd imagine in 99/100 cases it would be purposefully designed rather than naturally emerging.
That seems to be right, "some extremely funky niche circumstances to be in place"... and for quite some long time. I mean Carbon chemistry is fast, and yet it took a lot of time, a lot of tries and discards, for the first true cell to appear. Anyway, I can envision this scenario only near a red dwarf because any faster burning star would make the lottery of tries and discard, even more funkier from a statistical perspective. Not impossible, but with a very low probability. Heck, Carbon-based lifeforms, with variations, would be millions of times more probable, even in conditions that we cannot encounter on Earth.
Doesnt carbon based life also need funky niche circumstances to emerge?
@@gaychineeNot nowhere as crazy as silicon
@@gaychinee Talking only about Carbon-based lifeforms and not about multicellular to intelligent Carbon-based lifeforms, it's not that funky niche. In our galaxy, there are almost 20% G and K type stars (yellow, like our Sun, and orange). Those are the most stable with a decent lifetime, decent radiation, and decent-sized Habitable Zone. If a planet in this zone happens to have a mass close to Earth's and a magnetic field, then the probability for the Carbon-based lifeforms to appear is close to 100% IMHO. Now, of course, single-cell lifeforms don't guarantee multicellular lifeforms, as intelligent lifeforms don't guarantee technological lifeforms. For more thoughts, check Drake equation. Anyway, Carbon is best suited as the building block for life because, at liquid water (which is the main solvent) temperatures, its chemistry has the best combination betwwen complexity and speed.
@@gaychinee Carbon-based life should be all over the universe. For Silicon-based you need very specific circumstances where for some reason it was silicon instead of carbon. Which is yes, funkier.
5:14 The elemental composition of the human body is just mind blowing. Only a small amount of ingredients.
Yet another informative video to brighten my day.
Great work that broadens my horizons Isaac.
Right about now, I'm a holiday treats based life form :d Have a good holiday and happy new year everyone.
Ha ... You to
Perfect timing had today selected to start a silicon based lifeforms presentation
Don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been waiting for a silicon life based episode for the longest time!
I might not agree with everything you say. But when I come across people who possess a higher degree of knowledge and intelligence than myself. Then I would only be doing myself a disservice if I wasn't willing to both listen and learn. Especially as I love all the subjects you talk about. Merry Christmas. ❤ from🇸🇪
How incredibly strange would a Lead based life form be...I can hardly imagine.
just carbon possible. Sorry.
@@RandomGuy-lu1en if so, that's too bad. With the galaxy and universe being do big and having so many possibilities, shouldn't it be possible that a handful of life forms do not conform to Carbon or perhaps Silicon requirements as a base?
@@TokyoTraveller to form a molecule that contains data you need an element that can form very long chains with itself. We know all elements (the periodic table is complete) and carbon is the only element that can do this. Silicon can form chains with itself but because the silicon atoms are very large, the atoms in the chain are far apart and the chain breaks easily. In fact: Whatever comes in contact with a silicon chain will break it. You can't go beyond a few atoms.
But don't worry. Carbon is more than enough to make all kinds of weird life forms possible!
@@RandomGuy-lu1en Ok, I gotcha. Thanks
I'm picturing folks with nuclear-powered smartphones and earbuds :)
I bet this will be one of the most viewed videos on the channel!
I have been binge watching Issac’s content. Need to stop and go to the gym and work off all these drinks and snacks!
Every Thursday is a great day with Mr Arthur's upload schedule.
Just what I needed right now. You're the best, Sir!
Impressive show as always. Thank you very much.
I love the idea of molten metal “blood” for silicon life. I also see issues should anyone get a brilliant new idea for sourcing solder.
Happy Arthursday!
I had been waiting for this topic for awhile. Well done.
Interesting episode Isaac, thanks for researching and presenting/uploading. You introduced a number of concepts which I either didn't know or were on the cusp of my memory. I did read an article in New Scientist some time ago that seemed to conclude that silicon-based life was all but impossible. But that must've been at least 10-20 years ago now, so perhaps silicon-based life isn't as bleak a prospect in light of newer research. You did cover off some reasons why it was, perhaps, unlikely. I guess I would've liked to hear a bit more about that side of thing - specifically so I could hear what the reasonable counter-arguments were! After all, the prospect of silicon based life is such an interesting one.
I think sulfur is another possible alternative, since it is also very abundant. I've studied this quite a bit, and it is certainly plausible.
Woo hoo best channel ever!
A Titanium-skinned Silicon alien species would be very cool.
I really appreciate your videos and wide range of topics, thank you!
I am guessing there would have to be an evolution of silicon life forms starting out with silicone based bacteria. Another way is for it to be artificially created to perform a mining function for an advanced civilization.
In Destiny 2, there's a race of silicon-based lifeforms called the Vex, who are really just radiolarian colonies inhabiting robotic shells. They evolved on a world next to a blue supergiant star, and energy was so abundant that there was no predation or competition for resources.
The vex are such a pain to deal with and those weird noises they make are annoying lol
Imagine being visited by silicon-based intelligence......this giant, glowing red craft descends, vaporizing everything in its vicinity-from just its latent heat alone.
Great video. stuff like this is a great inspiration to my speculative evolution inspired story. I really appreciate the fact you uploaded this and the general content you make. Keep up the good work
Star Trek The Next Generation had an early episode where a Federation terraforming project was sabotaged by an unrecognized silicon-based lifeform that was based on photoelectric semiconductors, which existed in a very thin band of subsurface salt water, which they used as a communication medium. At first, neither the lifeforms nor the terraforming team paid much attention to each other, or even considered each other forms of life.
Incidentally, they considered humans ugly bags of mostly water.
Sweet another amazing video
Was on Nebula to watch the Shoplifter episode. Me, I've already decided that I'd head out to the Oort cloud, if given the chance. Also saw the photo of your kids. Good job there, man. (and good luck)
A better word to use might've been "drifter", though. People are wary of drifters for the reasons Isaac mentioned the video will be about, in that they're a stranger that comes through and might just steal stuff then quickly disappear into the wind to a new town before there's any chance to catch them.
There's a whole crop of budding science fiction writers that owe you a lot!
Yes! Now please do one on nitrogen-based life. You can used the movie Evolution for inspiration
I think that's what are ammonia-based life episode would probably be, albeit we really only focused on Ammonia and that as the solvent like water
@@isaacarthurSFIA cool, ill check it out. Thanks!
Our own mantle doesn't seem to have any silicon based life. Thanks for the great show.
Hermit Shoplifter, yes that is exactly what I will be when I have uploaded my brain into a computer.
Silicon only let's me think about the Tholians, at least now I few new ideas are floating around in my brain. Thanks for the great episode.
Thus was an especially awesome episode!
Excellent ❤
Not to be confused with the Silicone based lifeforms in Miami and LA.
Who else caught The Fermi Paradox Pancosmorio list as January 4, 2023. But knowing Isaac he did it just to see if we are paying attention, good episode as always
I feel like the topic of desert varnish would have been relevant to this and at least worth a mention
Congratulations on your newly adopted carbon based lifeforms.
Life always finds a way. 💯
Personally, i really like starrrrrrs 😂
One wonders....if silicon-based life is possible, could we make it and use it to explore the depths of our own planet, for which we are unsuitable. An interesting story hook if nothing else. Also food for conspiracies: the silicon-based civilization existing in our planets depths, who have actually made us to explore territory for which they are unsuitable. Eh...my imagination is running amok, don't mind me,
The visual novel/anime Muv-Luv plays the silicon-based aliens very smartly IMO. SPOILERS BELOW!!!!
Swarm-like aliens invade Earth, and over the course of 40 years, devastate Eurasia and drop the world population to 1 billion. Once contact is eventualy established with them for the first time, it's found that they are not sentient; instead, they are essentialy biological drones created by another, impossibly advanced silicone-based sentient race who "programmed" them to harvest carbon across the galaxy. In other words, their creators couldn't even imagine that sentient life could come out of anything other than silicone, and see everything carbon-based as mineral ressources. So in their eyes, their invasion of Earth and massacre of our species was just an automated mining operation on a lifeless rock, and all of our efforts to resist, including slaughtering millions of their drones, employing nukes, developing giant robots to fight them (yes it's anime) etc. were just chemical reactions or physical forces, like friction eroding mining tools.
My gravity well cannon doesnt care if youre made of silicon or potatoes.
You can't possibly know it's feelings.
@@MuppetsSh0w Don't worry their feelings will probably remain intact within the singularity as data....somewhere.
@@SlimeUwU You do not know if xir is feeling nonbinary.
I bet there are a race of silicon based life forms that have human level intelligence somewhere in the universe debating the possibility of CARBON BASED LIFE.
i enjoy watching these videos,
That's a family of concepts that I cannot start considering for stories build in settings with current tech. It pushes my mind to that technological level where we get space-vessels with billions of intelligent individuals, travelling between galaxies. Some or all characters biologically immortal. Under that premisse I can see a truly cosmopolitan society where people based indifferent chemical elements share more or less the same rights and obligations.
They could be able to communicate online, and even learn each other languages perhaps. Even if they could not stand in the same room for a couple seconds.
Would be interesting to see people realizing they have more in common with some silicon based octopus who swims in hot lava in some other part of the ship than with most other humans. And showing surprize. As if wasn't obviously that it should be expected.
I am not sure why, but I have the inclination to associate that sort of story with band dessinées. French comic books.
Lava whales living within the Earth in the magma surrounding the core sounds awesome.
As I'm drinking my coffee and snacking on peppermint bark, I'm wondering how volatile and weird it could be to a possible silicone based life form from another world... 🤔 Of course we know how not very healthy my snack choice is for us, it's still sooooo good! Thanks Issac, very fascinating stuff ❤
I have the same w-lisp as issac, but his intelligence makes me less embarrassed by it.
Nothing makes me sadder than knowledge of Nebula-exclusive episodes :(
I remember reading this about Silicon-based Life:
One is startled towards fantastic imaginings by such a suggestion: visions of silicon-aluminium organisms - why not silicon-aluminium men at once? - wandering through an atmosphere of gaseous sulphur, let us say, by the shores of a sea of liquid iron some thousand degrees or so above the temperature of a blast furnace.
- H. G. Wells, “Another Basis for Life,” Saturday Review, p. 676 (December 22, 1894).
So you're saying Silicon-based Life using molten iron as a solvent, like described here, is actually possible? What type of star could accomodate complex Silicon creatures with that solvent for hundreds of millions of years? An A-type star, maybe? Is an O-type star good enough, or is it too short-lived?
What if there were a Kardashev-2 civilization of silicon-based life forms inside a planet's crust, regularly launching spacecraft via volcanoes which were mistaken by the carbon-based life forms living on the surface for ordinary eruptions...?
Studying the rich ecosystems living off of deep sea vents, It's hard to fully dismiss life on europa using a similar energy source.
I do not support conspiracy theories. But I must point out that it is interesting that so many our myths do mention a civilization existing deep in the ground or alternatively in space (usually both).
And we have found life deep in the ground and oceans where we didn't believe it could exist. And we have spent a lot more time exploring those places than space. We have also found some life can survive and even go into longterm hibernation in space.
@@Moosetick2002 I was actually talking about aliens. The funniest part is that many myths mention secret planet or moon somewhere. And there is actual planet inside our planet (Theia).
There are of course shape shifting lizard people with magic orbs (surprisingly a lot of myths) and many gods actually operate in a way nowadays associated with AI. So blindly fallowing order with saint level self-sacrifice or extreme cruelty. Not to mention actual hive mines (like eghm... God). It is not coincidence that terms like Icon and Avatar migrated into IT. As they accurately paralel concepts.
To be clear I'm not saying it is actually real. For example Ancient Greek commonly mention robots (automata) because they actually could make simple clockwork models. That correlate to concepts of homunkulus or golem.
I am supposed to be working, not watching this excellent video!
I am using it with headphones to counter the irritating office Christmas music.
Feliz Navidad for the 1000th time 🤣🤣
Wow What wild alien life theories this guy has about on insane places like Io and Venus.
haha you reminded me of that night I put dry ice in my beer glass
Nice. I really like your videos
The ET visitors are already walking amongst us but people are not really interested in the truth of the matter. The interest in this subject seems to just be a pastime for most. Only those who are directly and physically affected by their presence seem to be the ones willing to find out what's actually going on. Read The Allies of Humanity briefings guys.
The Real Housewives of Atlantis is also educationa. The story of the princess and her bigfoot lover was most entertaining.
I want to know the truth of the matter. It's just, that means something. In real life.
So for there to be ‘allies of humanity’ there must also be ‘foes of humanity’.
That’s the larger truth people don’t want to hear.
It means everything in real life. For one to be able to really live one's life, he or she must be aware of the true context of their life. That is why this information is so valuable and needed. Go and read The Allies of Humanity briefings if you want to know the context of all our lives. @@jojof7027
Bobo?
Silicon based lifeforms can naturally evolved in any planet too hot or cold for carbon based life
Silicon-based life that naturally evolced in earth's mantle can rationalizes Hollow earth theory
How about you make video about Plasma-based lifeforms: they can be the most numerous life on the universe?
Happy birthday!
I think a big hurdle in forming complex biomolecule analogues in silicon based life forms would be all the steric hindrance between the silicon atoms due to their large size.
also the very weak bonds
Somewhere, there's a silicon based lifeform giving a presentation on the possibility of lifeforms that are ugly sacks of mostly water...
Mercury! I’d like to think Mercury would be a solvent for Silicon based life.
That episode of star trek was just on "regular " tv last night!!
It seems that the key is in having the spontaneous development of silicon structures that have the ability to self-replicate. This initial step seems very rare. Akin to putting a hundred parts in a box and shake it long enough to create a viable radio. Putting aside the AI angle, Silicon life makes more sense if you think of carbon based life (us) as the embryonic, transition step to a silicon based life. I can't see Stargate's 'Replicators' spontaneously evolving from basic elements.
A lot of women have a lot of silicon. So you can kind of say we already have a hybrid of silicon life
Another variation for environmental energy harvest is more energetic radiation in those high pressure/thermal planets, such that they need mid UV to activate a gate charge. Another part of the life molecule, is the energy transport chemicals. In life, these are hydrocarbons for long term storage, and phosphates like adp/atp cycles for immediate usage. Without a series to transport energy and store it in a distinct flux apart from the environment, because that higher energy makes an entropy baseline the lifeform has to sit within. Imagine the energy density required for a lifeform siting in molteen metal, it would have to be significantly more energetic in capacity. Not to mention, this also fight against current standards of technology, as part of a tool use is a degree of constant stability. Such a life would have to have tools made of tungsten carbide, and perhaps as bones as well.
There are two main reasons why silicon is a weaker base for life, one of which you touched on, that being the atomic weight. The other is that carbon only has one electron shell which makes it higher energy whereas silicon has two electron shells and it's the outer shell that forms bonds and has relatively lower energy making for relatively weaker bonds. That doesn't make it impossible though, and I think there is silicon life out there somewhere, just not the way sci-fi usually depicts it lol.
"Truth is stranger than fiction"
Ah, somebody has played the Silicoids race in Master of Orion.
Interesting topic.
Shout-out to the Vex, the microscopic silicon based organisms from Destiny
Would our synthetic silicone be carcinogenic to a silicon-based life form? We have that problem with some hydrocarbons.
Is the channel name "Arthur" a reference to a speech synthesizer by the same name? It was recently used on a video on Kitboga channel. The narration in this video sounds very similar.
I liked Uller Uprising H Beam piper the alien's in the book were silicon based partially, they had opal teeth.
Huh. It turns out a silicon-based lifeform I'm adding to one of my stories is actually similar to this, being made of rock, metal and crystal, and eating primarily electricity.
5:19 I’ll have you know that my silicon ice trays are not stiff when I take them out of the freezer.
That looks like Ra's ship from the 1994 Stargate movie 22:22
1:03 Why are aliens always naked? They sport nary a pocket knife, tricorder, jock strap, utility belt, sunglasses or even a plastic collection bag with tweezers. And apparently they are all from tropical low gravity worlds, not requiring much in the way of musculature to maintain an upright bipedal stance. As typically portrayed they could merely be tall rhesus monkeys, not human level sentient at all.
Silicon is needed for 99.99% of AI we can produce...is it that strange to see it as a potential base of life?
Letssss gooooo
Siliconians proliferating your mind space!
Out of the field Isaac 🧢