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They're Made out of Meat

terrybisson.com

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Re: They're Made out of Meat

#21

Post by ghshephard »

markyc wrote: post #16

It's a nice story, but not very logical If meat thinking beings were so unheard of, you'd think they'd be all over us, trying to get to know what makes us tick, and why not, talking to us. Like if we'd find a talking dog. Maybe a more logical conclusion would be if they'd go: "Oh, it's just another meat civilisation. Just let them wander around in the dark like all the others, there's no chance they'll ever find anyo…

What if we found talking poo (kind of like Mr. Hanky) Wouldn't the entire idea that such a thing could be _sentient_ be more than we could handle. Re-Read the story again, and substitute "poo" for "meat" and maybe you'll get a feel for it.

After all - a talking dog is really just talking meat.

Re: They're Made out of Meat

#22

Post by markyc »

ghshephard wrote: post #21
markyc wrote: post #16

It's a nice story, but not very logical If meat thinking beings were so unheard of, you'd think they'd be all over us, trying to get to know what makes us tick, and why not, talking to us. Like if we'd find a talking dog. Maybe a more logical conclusion would be if they'd go: "Oh, it's just another meat civilisation. Just let them wander around in the dark like all the others, there's no chance they'll ever find anyo…

What if we found talking poo (kind of like Mr. Hanky) Wouldn't the entire idea that such a thing could be _sentient_ be more than we could handle. Re-Read the story again, and substitute "poo" for "meat" and maybe you'll get a feel for it. After all - a talking dog is really just talking meat.

i think if we found any talking thing/being other than ourselves we'd be all over it. poo included

Re: They're Made out of Meat

#23

Post by jwdunne »

markyc wrote: post #16

It's a nice story, but not very logical If meat thinking beings were so unheard of, you'd think they'd be all over us, trying to get to know what makes us tick, and why not, talking to us. Like if we'd find a talking dog. Maybe a more logical conclusion would be if they'd go: "Oh, it's just another meat civilisation. Just let them wander around in the dark like all the others, there's no chance they'll ever find anyo…

I think you have illustrated the point of the story by assuming these alien beings would react exactly how human's would. We don't know anything but human nature but it's not hard to imagine that non-human's or, rather, non-meat wouldn't have a non-human, non-meat nature.

Re: They're Made out of Meat

#24

Post by Kurtz79 »

boobsbr wrote: post #8
DiabloD3 wrote: post #6

One of my favorite stories ever. That, and The Last Question.

The Last Question was really nice. What a twist at the end.

Sci-Fi stories with a final twist at the end are plentiful, some of my favorites:

The Hunters - Walt Sheldon

Impostor - Philip K. Dick

Re: They're Made out of Meat

#26

Post by markyc »

jwdunne wrote: post #23
markyc wrote: post #16

It's a nice story, but not very logical If meat thinking beings were so unheard of, you'd think they'd be all over us, trying to get to know what makes us tick, and why not, talking to us. Like if we'd find a talking dog. Maybe a more logical conclusion would be if they'd go: "Oh, it's just another meat civilisation. Just let them wander around in the dark like all the others, there's no chance they'll ever find anyo…

I think you have illustrated the point of the story by assuming these alien beings would react exactly how human's would. We don't know anything but human nature but it's not hard to imagine that non-human's or, rather, non-meat wouldn't have a non-human, non-meat nature.

that kind of makes sense

still, you'd expect any kind of intelligent being to be interested in accumulating more knowledge

I know I know, I'm projecting

Re: They're Made out of Meat

#27

Post by ghshephard »

markyc wrote: post #22
ghshephard wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if we found talking poo (kind of like Mr. Hanky) Wouldn't the entire idea that such a thing could be _sentient_ be more than we could handle. Re-Read the story again, and substitute "poo" for "meat" and maybe you'll get a feel for it. After all - a talking dog is really just talking meat.

i think if we found any talking thing/being other than ourselves we'd be all over it. poo included

Well, keep in mind - in the story, sentient beings are fairly common - they run into them all the time (the Galaxy being pretty big, that's not surprising, particularly if you can move through C space (whatever that is)).

So, in this scenario, pretend we've just run into Sentient Race 36,000. But, this time, instead of being the usual flora and fauna and machine intelligence, it's just... poo.

I can see some jaded explorers being willing to give them a pass, and, well, leave the poo alone.

Re: They're Made out of Meat

#28

Post by Shivetya »

jwdunne wrote: post #23
markyc wrote: post #16

It's a nice story, but not very logical If meat thinking beings were so unheard of, you'd think they'd be all over us, trying to get to know what makes us tick, and why not, talking to us. Like if we'd find a talking dog. Maybe a more logical conclusion would be if they'd go: "Oh, it's just another meat civilisation. Just let them wander around in the dark like all the others, there's no chance they'll ever find anyo…

I think you have illustrated the point of the story by assuming these alien beings would react exactly how human's would. We don't know anything but human nature but it's not hard to imagine that non-human's or, rather, non-meat wouldn't have a non-human, non-meat nature.

the problem I had with the story is, exactly what type of existence do these aliens have? Why would they refer to other races as meat if they were not similar, biological lifeforms?

Meat is a term used to denote food, not a life form type.

Re: They're Made out of Meat

#29

Post by Kurtz79 »

markyc wrote: post #16

It's a nice story, but not very logical If meat thinking beings were so unheard of, you'd think they'd be all over us, trying to get to know what makes us tick, and why not, talking to us. Like if we'd find a talking dog. Maybe a more logical conclusion would be if they'd go: "Oh, it's just another meat civilisation. Just let them wander around in the dark like all the others, there's no chance they'll ever find anyo…

This story doesn't work for me, because the emphasis given to main word (which is the whole point I guess)

I imagine "Meat" to be a very human concept, strictly related to food, and to our nature as carnivores.

I can´t picture non carbon-based lifeforms talking about humans as "meat".

The whole concept of "meat" would be completely, well, alien to them.

Re: They're Made out of Meat

#30

Post by smcl »

Not sure how appropriate or relevant this is, but both me and a friend read this and were reminded slightly of the stuff "written" by Matthew Holness' "Garth Marenghi" character. Sharing a couple of choice excerpts in case anyone is curious, but the real gold is in "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace" - a series set in 1980s hospital in Romford.

Dead Centre - http://www.garthmarenghi.com/books/deadcentre.htm - "This near-legendary collection of short stories includes 'The Streaming Face' (about a boy whose face is turned into a river by a magical elk because he spat on a gnome)"

Juggers - http://www.garthmarenghi.com/books/juggers.htm - "I wanted to write a book about the triumph of the female spirit over a gigantic lorry. Of course, looking back, I realise the truck actually represents AIDS.'"

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