In
philosophy of mind, the concept of a person made not of
carbon but of
silicon. Since silicon (14) falls immediately beneath carbon (6) in the
periodic table of elements, it has the same number of
free electrons to give, and therefore should bond in similar ways. In theory, a race of silicon-based creatures could've
evolved into bodies
isofunctional with our own.
If, from the functionalist analysis, we are merely the sum of our networks of molecular relationships, oughtn't silcon-based creatures ("Martians," in the classic example) be conscious in precisely the same ways that we are?
The concept of Martians has been used to debate both intentionality and functionalism. I first stumbled upon the notion in Daniel Dennett's book Consciousness Explained.