Thanks to chemical similarities, silicon has been suggested as an alternative to carbon in the molecules of lifeforms by a number of cranks and science fiction writers in the past, but it’s not an idea that has ever gained any real scientific support. Until now, that is – Dr Tom Gold, emeritus professor of astronomy at Cornell University, is publishing a book that advances exactly this idea, suggesting that the crust of the Earth may be teeming with silicon-based lifeforms that we (in our carbon-based arrogance) have never even noticed. May I be the first to welcome our new silicon overlords…
3 thoughts on “Intraterrestrials?”
Comments are closed.
He’s dead, man. Gold died two years ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gold
On the other hand, if his ideas turn out to have any traction, they’re gonna be news that STAYS news.
Well, that’ll teach me to check my sources. I should have known better than to trust a UFOlogy site without looking into the background of the story and the dates concerned.
But you’re right, that would be big news were it discovered to be true. There’d be a hell of a lot of very smug crystal therapists, too…
It is not Gold’s original idea. Julius Scheiner wrote about the possibilities of a silicon based life form in 1891.
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/S/Scheiner.html