Do you have a link to the discovery of silicon based life? I’d think it would be pretty big news.
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!
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.
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).