[tortoise]

Sure you can. But just having an alternative solvent will not produce, nor will it necessarily support life. What is the hydrogen bonding in ammonia compared to water? How would that affect the double helix of DNA, or the primary, secondary, tertiary structure of proteins? What of cell walls? What of the reaction rates for Krebs cycle, etc.?

This is making a rather extraordinary number of assumptions about what constitutes "life". DNA, and even organic chemistry, are very much irrelevant when discussing such things in the abstract. The argument is not about life on this planet as it actually is, as it theoretically could be, or even necessarily as it can be in this universe.

Insert obligatory "It's life, Jim, but not as we know it" here.

Precisely.

[grey_whiskers]

This is making a rather extraordinary number of assumptions about what constitutes "life". DNA, and even organic chemistry, are very much irrelevant when discussing such things in the abstract. The argument is not about life on this planet as it actually is, as it theoretically could be, or even necessarily as it can be in this universe.

Sigh. Abstractions are one thing, and empirical evidence another.

As Feynman said, "It doesn't matter how good your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's WRONG."

If you want to say "The argument is not about life on this planet as it actually is, as it theoretically could be, or even necessarily as it can be in this universe" then there is a little too much room for discussion.

Cheers!