They're Made Out of Meat
Encyclopedia
"They're Made Out of Meat" is a Nebula Award
-nominated short story by Terry Bisson
. It was originally published in OMNI
. It consists entirely of dialogue
between two characters, and Bisson's website hosts a theatrical
adaptation. A film
adaptation won the Grand Prize at the Seattle Science Fiction Museum's 2006 film festival
.
The two characters are sentient beings capable of traveling faster than light, on a mission to "contact, welcome and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in this quadrant of the Universe." Bisson's stage directions represent them as "two lights moving like fireflies among the stars" on a projection screen
. They converse briefly on their bizarre discovery of carbon-based life
, which they refer to incredulously as "thinking meat". They agree to "erase the records and forget the whole thing", marking the Solar System
"unoccupied".
The story was collected in the 1993 anthology
Bears Discover Fire
and Other Stories, and has circulated widely on the Internet, which Bisson finds "flattering". It has been quoted in cognitive
, cosmological
, and philosophical
scholarship.
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
-nominated short story by Terry Bisson
Terry Bisson
Terry Ballantine Bisson is an American science fiction and fantasy author best known for his short stories...
. It was originally published in OMNI
Omni (magazine)
OMNI was a science and science fiction magazine published in the US and the UK. It contained articles on science fact and short works of science fiction...
. It consists entirely of dialogue
Dialogue
Dialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
between two characters, and Bisson's website hosts a theatrical
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
adaptation. A film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
adaptation won the Grand Prize at the Seattle Science Fiction Museum's 2006 film festival
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
.
The two characters are sentient beings capable of traveling faster than light, on a mission to "contact, welcome and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in this quadrant of the Universe." Bisson's stage directions represent them as "two lights moving like fireflies among the stars" on a projection screen
Projection screen
A projection screen is an installation consisting of a surface and a support structure used for displaying a projected image for the view of an audience. Projection screens may be permanently installed, as in a movie theater; painted on the wall; or semi-permanent or mobile, as in a conference room...
. They converse briefly on their bizarre discovery of carbon-based life
Carbon-based life
Carbon forms the backbone of biology for all of life on Earth. Complex molecules are made up of carbon bonded with other elements, especially oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, and carbon is able to bond with all of these because of its four valence electrons. Carbon is abundant on earth...
, which they refer to incredulously as "thinking meat". They agree to "erase the records and forget the whole thing", marking the Solar System
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
"unoccupied".
The story was collected in the 1993 anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
Bears Discover Fire
Bears Discover Fire
"Bears Discover Fire" is a Hugo Award-winning short story by American science fiction author Terry Bisson. It concerns aging and evolution in the US South, the dream of wilderness, and community...
and Other Stories, and has circulated widely on the Internet, which Bisson finds "flattering". It has been quoted in cognitive
Cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...
, cosmological
Cosmology
Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...
, and philosophical
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
scholarship.
External links
- "They're Made Out of Meat" - The text of the short story.
- Short film adaptation.