What it Means to be Made Out of Meat
This a rhetorical question, but we answer it everyday that we walk around on this earth. Look around you and know that the life you’re living right now is what it’s like to be made out of meat. We all are, and it’s a bizarre concept to wrap your head around.
In an issue of Omni Magazine, in 1991, Terry Bisson published a story titled “They’re Made Out of Meat”. I can only describe it as screaming-ly good. It’s a rather brilliant piece. It’s very topical, considering our concern with the human body around here. And if you haven’t read it, you must. It’ll take you about 5 minutes to complete, but you’ll probably think about it for days.
Excerpt:
“They’re made out of meat.”
“Meat?”
“Meat. They’re made out of meat.”
“Meat?”
“There’s no doubt about it. We picked up several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, and probed them all the way through. They’re completely meat.”
“That’s impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars?”
“They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don’t come from them. The signals come from machines.”
“So who made the machines? That’s who we want to contact.”
“They made the machines. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Meat made the machines.”
“That’s ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You’re asking me to believe in sentient meat…”
2 opinions for What it Means to be Made Out of Meat
Tommy
Dec 28, 2006 at 1:57 am
I read this months ago, and it was great. It makes you think about what might be out there…Kind of the way “Contact” did for me a few years ago.
miss kitty
Feb 26, 2007 at 12:27 pm
See http://www.atomfilms.com/film/made_meat.jsp for a link to a film of this story.
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