Sentient Meat

The Palmyra Sliver: Blogging Meat!

A cross-post from Peg's blog... its hilarious and I don't know that I've ever cross-posted anything before, or if she's ever been cross-posted.

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Marc Bekoff sent this to the Ethological Ethics yahoo group:

In a 1991 science-fiction story by Terry Bisson, we listen in on a conversation between the robotic commander of an interplanetary expedition and his equally electronic leader, reporting with astonishment that the human inhabitants of Earth are "made out of meat":

"Meat?"
"There's no doubt about it. ... "
"That's impossible. ... Howcan meat make a machine? You're asking me to believe in sentient meat."
"I'm not asking you. I'm telling you. These creatures are the only sentient race inthe sector, and they're made out of meat." ...
"Spare me. Okay, maybethey're only part meat. ... "
"Nope, we thought of that, since they do have meat heads. ... But ... they're meat all the way through."
"No brain?" "Oh,there is a brain all right. It's just that the brain is made out of meat!"
"So ... what does the thinking?"
"You're not understanding, are you? The brain does the thinking. The meat."
"Thinking meat! You're asking me to believe in thinking meat?"
"Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Dreaming meat! The meat is the whole deal! Are you getting the picture?"

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I don't have any real commentary except that it is hilarious.