Chapter 778 - 485: Imitation

Chapter 778: Chapter 485: Imitation

The evolutionary limit of Silicon-Based Life is far inferior to that of Carbon-Based Life.

The fragility of Carbon-Based Life is, conversely, a side effect of the greatest advantage brought by carbon-based organisms.

From a chemical space perspective,

Carbon Atoms can form chains, rings, or three-dimensional structures through single, double, or triple bonds with other elements, supporting crucial molecules of life such as proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids.

According to calculations, the structural diversity of carbon-based molecules reaches 10⁸⁰ types, with humans having already identified over 100 million organic compounds,

far surpassing the 10³⁰ types of sulfur-based combinations or the 10⁴⁰ types of silicon-based molecular combinations.

The vastness of chemical space provides Carbon-Based Life with a very ample playground for trial and error and evolutionary potential.

Earth’s life, through four billion years of evolution, has only explored 10⁻⁷⁰ of the carbon chemical space but has already given birth to complex nervous systems and human civilization.

In the future, if the development of carbon-based systems is pushed to the extreme, its limits will surely be much higher than those of silicon-based systems.

In a sense, biology is an algorithm; each animal, including Homo sapiens, is a combination of various organic algorithms, resulting from millions of years of evolutionary natural selection.

But every substance, every molecule, has completely different forms and quantities of combinations. It’s like the game of Gomoku, where the number of variations is 10¹⁰⁷, relative to the complexity of chess with 10¹⁴⁰ variations, and now the most complex Go with 10¹⁷² variations, offering nearly infinite possibilities in the game space.

Though they are both games, due to the differences in rules, their limits are entirely different.

Among them, Silicon-Based Life is like chess, while Carbon-Based Life is like Go,

in terms of evolutionary possibilities, Carbon-Based Life almost completely crushes Silicon-Based Life.

Simultaneously, slight differences at the molecular level, akin to the foundation of a skyscraper, can lead the towering high-rise of evolution to completely opposite paths.

By contrast, the strong stability of Silicon-Based Life restricts molecular flexibility, preventing the formation of divalent and trivalent bonds.

This makes their evolution extremely difficult,

though their ability to withstand harsh environments is formidable, forming life itself, and gradual evolution is infinitely more difficult compared to carbon-based organisms.

It is also challenging to evolve intelligence comparable to humans.

Even if through countless difficulties, over endless time, intelligence is accidentally evolved, the lack of structural diversity may lead it to be more akin to man-made robots,

having relatively stronger computing and information processing capabilities, but it’s difficult to possess human-like creativity, abstract thinking, and emotions, thus unable to create a true civilization.

Interestingly, most of today’s computer chips and components primarily use silicon materials. Hence, there’s a saying that Silicon-Based Life will only be created by humans and will not evolve naturally.

Indeed, considering the current rate of human development, in less than a few centuries, humanity will likely be able to create real Silicon-Based Life, and nowadays many humans are worried about being counterattacked by the very things they’ve created, the formidable steel bodies of silicon combined with infinitely evolving AI minds; if not controlled, humans can easily be counterattacked.

Moreover, various science fiction novels also use this fascinating hypothesis of Silicon-Based Life to construct diverse strange creatures,

for instance, the most classic example is the Autobots in "Transformers."

These Autobots are typical Silicon-Based Life. Since Silicon-Based Life mostly has metal or Crystal as its frame, electric current and magnetic fields as its blood, and consumes radioactive rocks, their bodies are formidable, their strength can rival hundreds of Carbon-Based organisms, and Autobots perfectly match these characteristics.

But "Transformers" still belongs to the realm of soft science fiction, and many aspects of existence in it do not conform to science, leaving it as a fairly unreliable fantasy.

Some science fiction novels depict carbon-based life as crystalline entities, akin to rocks. Furthermore, this type of life almost lacks intelligence and thought, resembling hibernating turtles, possibly only attacking or passively attacking when facing extreme danger, just like carnivorous plants such as the pitcher plant.

Indeed, these views have their rationale; in the endless time-space of the Cosmos, there are surely some Carbon-Based Life forms that may accidentally evolve in such a way.

However, these presently deceased silicon-based microorganisms clearly evolved unsuccessfully.

Humanity has searched for hundreds of years and still has not found extraterrestrial life, presumably because the difficulty of naturally evolving life is too high.

Evolution itself is an extremely low-probability event; for life to not perish during evolution and even evolve to a standard comparable to humanity is harder still.

Despite the vast and extensive Cosmos with nearly infinite planets, humanity is still the only existing miracle.

Perhaps far away across infinite light-years, there indeed exists a presence as developed to the planetary civilization level as humans,

but for two civilizations to collide, such an event may take a very long time.

As for higher-order civilizations, perhaps they have not emerged in the current universe; after all, the cosmic Big Bang was only 138 years ago.

If the life form on each planet develops as slowly as Earth’s life, then there’s only an extremely small chance of a more advanced civilization existing than humans in the universe, nor is it likely that aliens capable of arriving on Earth will appear; despite human civilization being so formidable, only a scant few humans have set foot on the Moon, and planets farther away can only be explored with probes.