Quote Originally Posted by Myrddraal View Post
I couldn't agree more. It's impossible to draw mathematical conclusions. We can however theorise about what is necessary for life to come into existence, and try to get a rough idea of the probability of each of those stages completing successfully. RND/DNA universe and all that. The bit I struggle with is how either of those two, the RNA universe of the DNA universe, could ever spontaneously come into existence. I'm not saying they couldn't, it just boggles the mind.
The irony is that multicelluar life is mindboggingly hard (probably harder than creating life itself, based on the current insufficient data) yet for us it doesn't seem that hard to cooperate.
Also remember that modern life has had billions of years to develop to the current life forms. Any primitive cell structure would not survive until today, or survive for long if created today.

Drone, the significant advantage coal have is that it can easily bind to 4 different atoms and also easily form double bonds or higher. Silica for example doesn't form double bonds as easy. So while non-carbon life cannot be ruled out, carbon is definitly the most flexible molecule when it comes to create chains and advanced molecules.