Quote:
Originally posted by fabbriche
It's the case of betting on the things you know. Life-chemistry is expected to be virtually constant in the universe as in what elements go into creating life on earth should apply just about everywhere else. That's why the search for alien life is largely limited to the search for water because it is the only KNOWN solvent that is best match for life. Even water is still essential for organisms that use sulfuric acid. There is no evidence yet that life can exist based exclusively on other compounds so scientists favor searching for water-based life than any other alternative biochemistries.
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See, this is the problem imo. Sure, it's possible that the building blocks are the same across the universe, but we can't just
assume it is. I know it's a cliched example, but there was a time when we thought that the Earth was flat + that the solar system revolved around us. We shouldn't base the entirety of our search upon what we see on this planet; doing this basically eliminates any chance of variation or other possibility.
