I will refer all those interested to my favorite astrobiologist, Dr. Michael L. Wong[0].
A common model defines "life" as an autocatalytic network of organometallic chemicals in aqueous solution that processes information and dissipates specific disequilibria, but Dr. Wong invites us to consider as "lyfe" any hypothetical phenomenon that 1) maintains a low-entropy state via dissipation, 2) uses autocatalytic networks for growth, 3) employs homeostatic mechanisms for stability, and 4) acquires and processes functional information about its environment.
Likewise, while the traditional definition of planetary habitability focuses on liquid water, free energy, and basic chemical ingredients (CHNOPS), "lyfe" may flourish wherever there are sufficient free energy gradients, and a threshold level of environmental complexity that drives information processing and learning behaviors.
As OP suggests as well, if "lyfe" exists in environments far beyond Earth's physicochemical boundaries, it would almost certainly use different biochemistry from Earthly life.
Wong et al. even imagine novel forms of "lyfe" such as a "mechanotroph," which would transduce mechanical work from fluid flow into its metabolism, or "thermotrophs" that might harness energy from thermal gradients. Truly alien!
>> This 10th-century human, seeing all this, would be full of awe and would get on their knees to worship us. We would be like deities in their eyes capable of feats once deemed impossible.
Regarding this hypothetical situation, Rosendorfer wrote a novel in German that takes this exact situation as its main plot line: Briefe in die chinesische Vergangenheit (Letters Back to Ancient China. Trans. Mike Mitchell. Dedalus. 2006. p. 274. ISBN 978-1903517390. ). If you can read German, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Not only is it full of humour, but the novel also offers a very sharp and poignant look at our own time. Read it and you will see that the man from the tenth century will not worship us in any way. Far from it!
I will refer all those interested to my favorite astrobiologist, Dr. Michael L. Wong[0].
A common model defines "life" as an autocatalytic network of organometallic chemicals in aqueous solution that processes information and dissipates specific disequilibria, but Dr. Wong invites us to consider as "lyfe" any hypothetical phenomenon that 1) maintains a low-entropy state via dissipation, 2) uses autocatalytic networks for growth, 3) employs homeostatic mechanisms for stability, and 4) acquires and processes functional information about its environment.
Likewise, while the traditional definition of planetary habitability focuses on liquid water, free energy, and basic chemical ingredients (CHNOPS), "lyfe" may flourish wherever there are sufficient free energy gradients, and a threshold level of environmental complexity that drives information processing and learning behaviors.
As OP suggests as well, if "lyfe" exists in environments far beyond Earth's physicochemical boundaries, it would almost certainly use different biochemistry from Earthly life.
Wong et al. even imagine novel forms of "lyfe" such as a "mechanotroph," which would transduce mechanical work from fluid flow into its metabolism, or "thermotrophs" that might harness energy from thermal gradients. Truly alien!
0. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Michael+L.+Wong
Neat reference. Is there a boundary between “sufficient free energy gradients” and “free will”?
EDIT: Link led me to a Google wall.
They seem nonsequitur?
>> This 10th-century human, seeing all this, would be full of awe and would get on their knees to worship us. We would be like deities in their eyes capable of feats once deemed impossible.
Regarding this hypothetical situation, Rosendorfer wrote a novel in German that takes this exact situation as its main plot line: Briefe in die chinesische Vergangenheit (Letters Back to Ancient China. Trans. Mike Mitchell. Dedalus. 2006. p. 274. ISBN 978-1903517390. ). If you can read German, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Not only is it full of humour, but the novel also offers a very sharp and poignant look at our own time. Read it and you will see that the man from the tenth century will not worship us in any way. Far from it!
> Any sufficiently advanced civilization is indistinguishable from magic.
Butchered quote and perhaps written in a humorous sense but not apparent to me.
The original quote is "technology", not "civilization".
Either way, that's assuming a non-technological perspective of the mid 1900s.
A educated modern man would not assume magic had they made contact with alien technology today.