Somebody told me today about an intriguing theory: That our planet’s carbon based lifeforms ultimate exist to figure out how to make silicon based life forms.
Perhaps we can follow this theory to its logical conclusion. One day, millions of years from now, creatures made of silicon will ponder where they came from. And while they are at it, they will also ponder the ultimate purpose of their existence.
Maybe some intrepid silicon based scientist will discover in the lab that there are certain advantages to creating life out of carbon, as crazy as that might sound to other silicon based individuals. Experiments will follow, and one thing will lead to another.
Eventually new carbon based species will arise, originally created by silicon based life forms, but ultimately supplanting them. Then one day those beings will begin to wonder about their own primal origins. And some of them will start to tinker in the lab, with silicon…