"THEY'RE MADE OUT OF MEAT"

[progressoid]

Here's a fun little tale from Terry Bisson. First published in OMNI in 1990.

(the whole thing is a quick read)

THEY'RE MADE OUT OF MEAT


"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."

...

http://www.terrybisson.com/page6/page6.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. That's hilarious!

[MrScorpio]

2. I might have bought that issue

I used to get Omni all of the time

[progressoid]

3. I had a friend that had a subscription.

Would regularly read his. Loved their cover art too.

[Aristus]

4. Douglas Adams would have been proud.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

5. I remember reading that

years ago.

[Callmecrazy]

6. I think that's one of the solutions to Fermi's Paradox...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox
Who the hell in the galaxy would want to meet a bunch of talking meat?

[Tom_Foolery]

7. Terry Bisson grew up in my hometown...

There's always an article in the local newspaper when he comes out with a new book.