What's wrong with sci-fi aliens

[Caid Ivik]

Of course, once you take that into account, things get a lot more complicated... for now we're only discussing the physical part, though. This isn't PRP. ;)

Neither of the elements you mention has the sheer "combination power" of carbon or silicon. Keep in mind that we know today more organic compounds (compounds that contain carbon) than all anorganic compounds (compounds that do not contain carbon) put together! The nature of the carbon and silicon atoms makes them excellent building blocks for complex 3-dimensional structures. Something based on sulphur, magnesium or potassium (don't call it kalium) couldn't possibly reach the level of complexity that is required in order to make a living cell.

Why complicated? You can build a computer from every substance (if we take it its neurons could theoretically be a mechanical, electronical, photonical, hydraulical or whatever...), but we would need a subtance more, and here I expect some transcendental actus purus. Otherwise, this thing I am writing on, is just a same life as mine, perhaps without a reproductive or evolutionar ability (what isn't so sure: as a male I am unable of self-reproduction as well without a symbiosis with a female and by analogy we can say that PC needs human for its evolution).

We know many organic molecules, that's for sure, but apart from perhaps a metan we don't know about other such things outside the Earth. If our ecosystem is based on carbon, perhaps on moon Io we can find one based on sulphur and even more diverse (as sulphur is certainly more reactive). However, here I am still enough skeptical to believe, that a cell could be created just by a chemical reaction...

[Anathema]

Question: If, when you drop a buttered piece of bread, it always drops butter side down and a cat always lands on its feet, what would happen if you took a piece of buttered bread, strapped it on the back of a cat (butter side up) and dropped it?

Answer: Even if you are too lazy to do the experiment yourself you should be able to deduce the obvious result. The laws of butterology demand that the butter must hit the ground, and the equally strict laws of feline aerodynamics demand that the cat can not smash its furry back. If the combined construct were to land, nature would have no way to resolve this paradox. Therefore it simply does not fall.

That's right you clever mortal (well, as clever as a mortal can get), you have discovered the secret of antigravity! A buttered cat will, when released, quickly move to a height where the forces of cat- twisting and butter repulsion are in equilibrium. This equilibrium point can be modified by scraping off some of the butter, providing lift, or removing some of the cat's limbs, allowing descent.

Most of the civilized species of the Universe already use this principle to drive their ships while within a planetary system. The loud humming heard by most sighters of UFOs is, in fact, the purring of several hundred cats.

The one obvious danger is, of course, if the cats manage to eat the bread off their backs they will instantly plummet. Of course the cats will land on their feet, but this usually doesn't do them much good, since right after they make their graceful landing several tons of red- hot starship and irritated aliens crash on top of them.