What If Humans Were Silicon-Based Instead of Carbon-Based?

Carbon is the primary building block of all life on Earth. Without it, humans would have no DNA. What if we tried replacing human life with silicon instead of carbon. What would silicon-based humans look and act like?

00:00 Silicon-based life
00:53 Carbon life
02:32 Weak double bonds
03:42 Molecule movement
04:19 Sulphuric acid oceans

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What If is a mini-documentary web series that takes you on an epic journey through hypothetical worlds and possibilities. Join us on an imaginary adventure through time, space and chance while we (hopefully) boil down complex subjects in a fun and entertaining way.

#WhatIf #Astrobiology #SiliconBased

[poweroffriendship.]

_What if humans were made in silicone instead of carbon?_

*Richard Reeds from Fantastic Four:* "There's nothing like a good stretch to start your day."

[ComicalRealm]

Meanwhile...
Silicon Lifeforms: If carbon life forms did exist, they would most likely only exist in microbe form because larger multi-cell creatures will need a lot of water to be sustained.

[Barnardrab]

You forgot to mention something.
Considering that carbon is made of 6 protons and silicon is 14, replacing your carbon with silicon would nearly double your weight.

[kiransagar]

In an alternate universe: what if humans were carbon-based instead of silicon-based?

[DireFox]

If humans were Silicon based life-forms, then by the standards of carbon based life, humans might be considered super-human. Might have skin hard enough to withstand high caliber bullets, might have muscles powerful enough to effortlessly throw around 10 tons. Or it could just be something boring, but equally useful. Like Immunity to airborne toxins, or radiation. Could even make it easier to create cybernetic enhancements.

[randigo]

Boron is also a good alternative to Carbon, but it needs another atmosphere and maybe some different compounds on surface to reduce it's chemical reactivity.

[OMG-iyng]

But if we imagine the same thing on Venus? People assume that life existed on Venus. And regarding this topic, you will find hot temperature with sulfuric acid lakes all over. Hence the existence of silicon based life forms can be possible.

[h-e-acc]

So we’re carbon-based and we have to eat things with carbon to sustain us (stuff with sugar for energy). If it’s silicon, what would we eat? Things with silicon? Or better yet, in order to survive, we’d have to evolve where we don’t need to consume food and oxygen to survive (anaerobic organisms) 🤷🏽‍♂️ it sucks to be carbon-based. We need carbon, hydrogen and oxygen (sugar) to sustain our carbon based bodies. The sugars (carbohydrates) we consume, while at an earlier stage gives energy and sustains our cells, it eventually degrades and gives us many health/medical problems down the line and those carbon-based cells eventually degrade, and we become a wrinkly mass of fragile bones, muscles and tissues that eventually wear and tear, and autoimmune systems that as the body ages goes haywire and eventually turns against us because it starts detecting inflammation that pop up within our bodies and our white blood cells interpret the data as infection, thereby the white blood cells attacking the source of the inflammation, giving us arthritis and other inflammatory and musculoskeletal degenerative disorders, that is, if we don’t put in check the kinds and amounts of foods and complex sugary drinks we consume that could also lead to kidney and circulatory problems that affect blood pressure, heart rates, oxygen saturation levels, etc.

All things being equal and life on earth started out silicon, if earlier silicon life survived from simple organisms into more complex ones, we’d we’d probably be more durable, having no need for things that make carbon based life fragile (protein, carbohydrates, etc.). As far as physical appearances go, who knows. Humans basically started from fish, and whatever earlier life form on earth took it almost always had symmetrical features. It would probably be still the same because it seems nature has a certain affinity for order and symmetry as far as creation and evolution go.

So, we’d still probably possess symmetrical features, except we’d be made of crystals instead of blocks of complex proteins and calcium. And maybe some other internal energy consumption and output mechanisms that are going to be entirely different from the carbon-based version. Maybe instead of eating and taking a crap as a means of energy intake and waste output, we only get energy from the sun or other sources of heat and the only waste product we excrete from our bodies is water and steam. 🤷🏽‍♂️

[lewbangag]

It seems like it’s more planets out there that fit the criteria for silicon based life.

[fellowtraveler]

Venus sounds like a great candidate for a home world for silicon based life due to its extremely hot atmosphere comprised of mostly sulfuric acid. Who knows, maybe there is life on Venus after all. We just haven't found it yet. Based on what's been described, Venus meets all the prerequisites to support silicon based life.

[khalilahd.]

Wait this would be so cool. We’d all be a bunch of Mrs. Incredibles 😅😅

[dinosaur]

What if before the carbon based life, there was silicon based life on Earth? I mean, there were different eras, & maybe the temperature was higher & Earth was more acidic but then water started to form & all the silicon based life forms died & that's why Earth has a lot of silicon in it.

[philochristos]

I've never been more thankful for the carbon I'm made out of.

[swansequence]

Silica is temperature sensitive and hardens or crystallizes when pressured or heated, that’s how we make glass. Our bones ARE silica! So is hair, skin, our eyeballs, the brain, heart, and GUT. All body tissues renew because they are silica based. Silica is an insulator which is why it’s raw form is gelatinous, like placenta or aloe vera, and the heated processed forms insulate as plastic, glass, and conduct/attract electricity to insulate as a metalloid chip.

[kozatas]

5:22 "The melting point of Silicon is 1410 degrees..." Why would we need liquid Silicon? We don't have liquid Carbon either :D

[evarinze]

If Humans Were Silicone -Based instead of Carbon - Based,
Then Silicone Valley would have been known as Carbon - Valley!

[johnhudelson]

Carbon forms infinitely more compounds than silicon. So life based on silicon would be EXTREMELY unlikely.

[darksith]

If Humans were Silicon Based then we could:
- Hibernate for long periods of time
- Gain the ability to shift our outward appearance from a normal human to a rock like state
- Increased chances of gaining *STANDO POWAH!!!*

[philip]

Your videos are always the best💯 I do receive a notification each time you post a new video.. We'll have regrets for things we did not participate in...Investment should always be on any creative man's heart for success in life.

[youtuberesearch]

Melting point of silicon is 1410 degrees but melting point of carbon is 3550 degrees. You need definitely less energy to use silicon as element of cells or sth. And thats why carbon based lifeforms are smaller.