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They're Made Out of Meat (1991)

http://www.terrybisson.com/theyre-made-out-of-meat-2/
76•surprisetalk•3h ago

Comments

sl-1•1h ago
Related: Carl Sagan's Cosmos resampled to make a "Meat Planet" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP7K9SycELA
michaelsmanley•1h ago
Bisson once lived in the town just across the river from where I grew up and was an inspiration for me as a nerdy kid from the sticks who just wanted to write science fiction. His novels Talking Man, Fire on the Mountain, Voyage to the Red Planet, and Pirates of the Universe (don't be fooled by those last two titles; he was always undermining old sci-fi tropes) were among my favorites. This story is one of his goofier ones. I wasn't as big a fan of his short stories as they tended towards the jokey style of absurdism, but a favorite of mine is his "Bears Discover Fire."
fridder•1h ago
The short film someone made is pretty great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6JFTmQCFHg
eloisant•7m ago
The short film makes no sense, as the 2 people talking are meat themselves.
api•1h ago
Great short film version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6JFTmQCFHg

I do wonder sometimes if someone out there is waiting for something actually intelligent to emerge down here.

rob74•1h ago
If they exist, they're probably currently placing bets whether we will manage to destroy ourselves (or at least set our civilization back by centuries) with our nuclear weapons, our climate change or our social media...
Tade0•49m ago
Depends how they're listening I think.

There was a time not long ago when reportedly looking at the emails being exchanged around the world one would think the most pressing matter, discussed at length, was how to "enlarge your penis".

tomhow•1h ago
Previously...

They're Made Out of Meat (1991) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38420111 - Nov 2023 (168 comments)

They're made out of meat (1991) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31965062 - July 2022 (151 comments)

They're Made Out of Meat (1991) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24737993 - Oct 2020 (292 comments)

They're Made out of Meat - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8152131 - Aug 2014 (170 comments)

"They're Made out of Meat?" Short first contact sci-fi story - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3549320 - Feb 2012 (62 comments)

ableal•54m ago
Somehow this story isn't as fun today as it was when first printed ...
mortenjorck•47m ago
As I’ve gotten older, it’s become increasingly hard for me to understand how anyone can read such comical reductionism as enlightenment.

We are infinitely complex arrangements of systems built upon systems, from the quantum properties of carbon atoms up through the proteins that make the “meat” we are so glibly reduced to, through the complexities and adaptations of mammalian bodies, up to the fearsome order of the human brain and the intricate sprawl of human society and culture.

To reduce us to anything less is to deny the awesomeness of the cosmos itself.

empath75•39m ago
Do you feel the same about cows and pigs and chickens? One way to read this is your reading. Another way to read it is as an attempt to make you question the concept of meat.
BearOso•38m ago
> To reduce us to anything less is to deny the awesomeness of the cosmos itself.

Teacher: "Photosynthesis makes energy from water, CO2 and light. The mitochondria are the power centers of the cell."

Grade-schooler: "How do they work?"

Teacher: "Um. Um..."

Modern scientist: "Quantum entanglement and tunneling. We don't really understand any of it."

tantalor•36m ago
I don't know where you get the claims from "anyone" about "enlightenment".

This story is obviously satire. Meaning, it is a lie that tells the truth.

lucianbr•32m ago
How many of the billions of people alive have your perspective? How many of our leaders even, given the news in the last... let's say two weeks. But you can look at thousands of years of history and to me it still seems that people and their leaders don't share your view of "infinitely complex arrangements". I mean they might think such of themselves, but of "others", obviously not.

The story mentions some "official rules". Consider that we also have official rules and behaviour that does not obey them.

I dare suggest your own view might be reductionist.

0x3f•30m ago
Part of the human expression of disgust includes thought terminating cliches. Imagine how the average person would talk about a race of bug-like aliens, no matter how advanced they were. It would be a dismissive kind of 'ew, gross'. The humor is in seeing other beings reacting that way to us. I don't think it's supposed to imply the aliens are some kind of flawless geniuses revealing the true nature of human beings.
RajT88•25m ago
Rainier Wolfcastle: THAT'S THE JOKE
emp_•43m ago
> It was incredible man. Mold on a rock that got to think. Ha, it was amazing while it lasted
probablyworks•42m ago
This American Life also did a good narration of this in Act 2 of episode 803 https://www.thisamericanlife.org/803
analog8374•35m ago
So, Link, it's all very straightforward and scientific if you just think about it carefully for a moment : we're made out of pixels.
AntiDyatlov•21m ago
Well, actually, probably not. If you say we're made out of meat, you end up with the hard problem of consciousness.

I'm imagining a purple cube in this moment. Is the purple cube made out of meat?

grumpopotamus•6m ago
Also by Terry Bisson and one of my favorite stories is Bears Discover Fire 1990 https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/bears-discover-fi...

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They're Made Out of Meat (1991)

http://www.terrybisson.com/theyre-made-out-of-meat-2/
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