If we discover intelligent life in a star system with a different periodic table (due to exotic nucleosynthesis), what would code or computation even mean there? Assuming alien civilization based on a completely different set of elements. Not silicon, not carbon but maybe stable super-heavy elements. How would they build logic, memory, or even abstraction?
On Earth, code is just a human abstraction built on our materials and physics. It’s still about representing, storing, and manipulating information with reliable, repeatable calculations. We have semiconductors and logic gates made from silicon on Earth because it is abundant, stable, and tunable.
There are many possibilities for alien superheavy elements (within the limits of physics). They could build transformers from elements that can exploit quantum states in multidimensional states, like using qudits.
Memory could be out of stable elements, exploiting the nuclear spin states compared to our electron-level storage.
Even the logic would be based on vibrational frequencies rather than 1s and 0s.The possibilities are endless. Even if we witness it we might not even understand it. Like how ants cannot understand how our laptop works.
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