[Renegade 13]

Hunpecked you make good points. The only problem with imagining the different forms that silicon based life (or, to be honest, life based on anything other than carbon) is that the imagination of humanity is actually limited to a certain extent to what we are already familiar with. We can not imagine what form a silicon based life form would take since we are not familiar to any great extent with silicon-based life-forms. We say life "would/could not exist" in certain situations, but do we really know?

Also, just because life on Earth favored the development of carbon-based life-forms does not mean that another planet, with similar metallic ratios would not favor another, totally different approach to forming life.

And all of this leaves out the idea of a supreme being (God). If, as some believe, the universe was created, then God could have created whatever forms of life based on whatever elements he wanted to. But I think that's all I'll bring religion into this thread, as we all know that religious discussions can quickly degenerate.