Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-4478703-20140329232552/@comment-241978-20141009222957

Blaziken rjcf wrote:

Don't conflate "sentient sound waves" with regular sound waves. They're not the same.

That makes about as much sense as saying "Don't conflate "sentient matter" with regular matter. They're not the same." Uh, yeah they are. Humans and rocks are both made of matter and thus have the same basic physical physical properties, such as atoms composed of protons and neutrons.

Just because sonorosians are sentient does not mean they can have DNA. Sound is not matter and is not composed of atoms, it is a wave that propagates through matter just as light propagates through empty space. DNA is composed of matter. So sound waves, sentient or not, cannot have DNA. That is physically impossible.

Blaziken rjcf wrote:

DNA, as far as any biochemists can tell, has potentially limitless length. It can store as much information as you want it to, provided you can encode it properly. Carbon, in addition, can bond with many more elements of the periodic table than any other element in existence. With these two facts taken into consideration, it stands to reason that DNA would be the most common form for genetic information "storage".

That's ridiculous. While organic polymers would probably predominate on worlds with Earth-like conditions, it is highly unlikely that aliens would use DNA. Scientists have created completely new nucleic acids in laboratories that can carry out the same functions.

Scientists have identified numerous molecules that could substitute for carbon in speculative biochemistries. Siloxanes, silazanes, phosphorous-nitrogen polymers, and others.

Blaziken rjcf wrote:

I don't even know what you mean by "petronucleic", but whatever.

DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. RNA stands for ribonucleic acid. Any other nucleic acid would be called XNA, where X stands for something other than "deoxyribo-" or "ribo-." For example, "teroic pseudonucleic acid" or TNA.

Blaziken rjcf wrote:

Being silicon-based doesn't mean you're 100% silicon. Humans are carbon-based, yet our bodies are mainly water. As for Pyronites, given that diamonds are formed under incredible pressure and temperature, are pure carbon - and therefore also flammable - there's no reason why they can't be carbon-based.

Carbon-based doesn't mean our bodies are composed mostly of carbon. It means the backbones of our biological macromolecules are carbon polymers. Saying that petrosapiens are silicon-based means that the backbones of their biological macromolecules are silicon polymers, not carbon polymers.

Diamonds are combustible only at 900 °C. That's the opposite of flammable (i.e. easily combusted). Regardless, carbon polymers don't form crystals, as crystals are homogenous solid substances and polymers are not. Petrosapiens may be partially composed of diamond, but they can't use crystals to carry out recognizable biological processes like polymers can.

The most heat-tolerant organisms discovered on Earth live at temperatures between 45 and 122 °C. Above that point DNA breaks down, as do all other organic molecules.

The lowest temperature that a flame can be is 600 °C. As pyronites are based on molten rock instead of water they cannot possibly be carbon-based, as organic molecules dissemble at half that temperature. They cannot have DNA and probably use fluorosiloxane polymers.