>>12349474Metals are chemically the least complex substances. Basically just a sea of electrons with few unique interactions among one another. Assuming other universes have slightly varied physics, uninteresting chemical interactions like in metals is probably the norm, if not having no meaningful chemistry at all. I think most universes are just particle soups with practically no interaction between particles. So the fact that just a few elements even have interesting chemistry seems to indicate that they were the miracle that lead to the ability for life to form in the first place. It's probably just an unusual quirk of our own universe that interesting and complex chemistries are possible, otherwise we wouldn't exist. And by far the most interesting element is carbon, with it's ability to create complex, stable, and enormously diverse molecules. I think it's safe to say any alien species in our universe would be carbon based
