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“Intelligent design, as one sees it from a scientific point of view, seems to be quite real. This is a very special universe: it’s remarkable that it came out just this way. If the laws of physics weren’t just the way they are, we couldn’t be here at all. The sun couldn’t be there, the laws of gravity and nuclear laws and magnetic theory, quantum mechanics, and so on have to be just the way they are for us to be here."

This is the statement by Townes that I'm discussing. It is the only statement of his on this thread that I'm aware of. I'm not addressing anything else the man may have said or written. The entire thing is based on the assumption that life would only arise under those specific conditions and not in whatever conditions happened to occur. He also assumes that a universe could occur that manifested other conditions. So there is the source of your multiverse theory. It's wild speculation based on a lack of evidence not on observed principles. He is the one who speculates about other possible universes by stating that this one is so special that life couldn't occur in any other. If the laws of physics weren't exactly as they are??? Who is it that is speculating that they could be? Townes, that's who!

I can't find a link for you. I saw it on the Planet Earth program where this science-chick found it in a cave. Must have been a speculation. Here is a Google page full of scientific theory about silicon based life. If Townes' wild theory is science then you can hardly dismiss all of those theories as not science. Which only goes to support an extremely minor side-point I made about the lack of knowledge about life's necessary parameters. Obviously there are plenty of scientists out there who think it's reasonable that life could be silicon based. What else is possible with regards to life if we speculate that the laws of physics could be other than they are?

Regardless of whether there exists any life form other than carbon based types my point stands that Townes makes a sweeping assumption based on an extremely limited data set that it is the only possible type. Further he makes the sweeping assumption based on no data sets whatsoever that the laws of physics could be other than they are.

Silicon based life forms are completely the province of science fiction.

It is an interesting idea due to silicon and carbon both having four valence electrons, so conceivably some sort of DNA with silicon instead of carbon could be proposed, but is unlikely to be stable. Silicon also does not readily form double or triple bonds like Carbon does in many essential biomolecules. Silicon life forms might also be brittle, the extra electron shell insulation makes silicon’s covalent bonding weaker than carbons.

Some life forms do use silicon dioxide to make skeletons, spines, etc; but that does NOT make them “silicon-based” life forms. Just carbon-based life forms that use silicon (the second most abundant element on the earth).