On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 01:53:00PM +1000, Tim wrote:
> I don't see any particular reason why they would, apart from a
> tendency in fiction toward "silicon occurs mostly in rocks on Earth,
> therefore anything with silicon in it must be hard and rocky".

Following up on this a little, it might also be interesting to ponder
why many of Earth's so-called "carbon-based" organisms use various
calcium, phosphate, and/or protein structures for hard or tough parts,
and none at all use stronger (and more carbonaceous) diamond or
carbon-fibre structures.

- Tim