

Hypothetical types of biochemistry - 666_howitzer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothetical_types_of_biochemistry

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bjackman
Not totally related but here's a fun thing to think about:

In Greg Egan's "Permutation City", an alternative set of physical rules is
devised that is designed to produce a universe resembling ours, but that is
computationally feasible to accurately simulate. This simulated universe is
named the Autoverse.

The protagonist spends her time manipulating molecules in Autoverse
simulations, trying to invent Autoverse equivalents to biochemical systems
that will eventually lead to evolution.

As sci-fi "ideas" go, the Autoverse is pretty fucking awesome. Egan then takes
the idea and pushes it into insanely fun territory. It's a great read (and
actually I'm pretty sure I found out about it through HN).

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jszymborski
As a biochemist, I can confirm that this is all that excited, bright-eyed
undergrads talk about when they're in their cups at a biochem event.

