my silicon-based life

It's an occasional theme in sci-fi to ponder about alien life being chemically based around silicon instead of carbon (e.g., you may recall this Star Trek episode). The idea being that, since silicon and carbon are in the same column on the periodic table, they have the same number of valence electrons and hence can form (many of) the same chemical bonds...blah blah blah. (The fact that the binding energy of these electrons in silcon is less than in carbon is rarely mentioned, but that may not be a huge issue.)

In another scenario, the life is not "chemically" silicon-based, but a new "breed" of "mechanical life" shows up, via Artificial Intelligence and robots and whatzits. Some say the day will come when we will serve the machines...

It may be that the day has already come, but we failed to notice.

It occurred to me the other day that my life is essentially (becoming) silicon-based. That is, the silicon computer chip is essentially the conduit, and the computer itself the portal, through which I conduct (i.e. live) a significant portion of my life. I work at a computer pretty much all day. Many (if not most!) of my social interactions take place via e-mail. I get my news and entertainment via websites and video games... I guess I do still need to eat real physical food, but even that problem is partially taken care of: when I'm "hovering" in cyber-limbo, I can go for several hours without even feeling hungry! Presumably someday I'll even be able to order take-out online.

In The Matrix, one of the computer-based "life forms" declares humanity to be a virus. I find it at least entertaining to argue that the computer is the virus. Computers reproduce via humans manufacturing them, they take over a significant section of the humans' lives, they suck energy from the humans... Perhaps a "symbiotic" relationship describes things better, but that's assuming that what the computers deliver to *us* is actually beneficial!

I almost titled this entry "Luddite". ;-)