They’re Made Out of Meat, a classic sci-fi short story by Terry Bisson. “Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal!”
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Comments 4
@kottke This was adapted into a short film in 2004, starring Tom Noonan (Robocop 2), Ben Bailey (Cash Cab), and Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Wire) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6JFTmQCFHg
@DamnInteresting @kottke This was also recorded for an episode of "This American Life," performed by H. Jon Benjamin and Maeve Higgins! https://www.thisamericanlife.org/803/greetings-people-of-earth/act-two-18
Seen this many times, but never would have placed Gbenga Akinnagbe! Time for a rewatch.
18 years ago, Terry Bisson was a teacher and the keynote speaker at the Mendocino Coast Writers' Conference. I was there on a scholarship for local high school students, and although I was in the poetry workshop, I ended up sitting next to Terry at the closing banquet. I had read "They're Made Out of Meat" out on the internet, and I was totally star struck to be sitting next to him. But he couldn't have been nicer. He spent most of the dinner talking to me about what I was reading, my dreams of being a writer, etc. When it came time for his keynote, he asked me if I would help him out. He got up on stage, made some remarks, then brought me up, and together we read "They're Made Out of Meat" as a dialogue. In my memory, we had the room in stitches.
I must still have Terry's print-out of the story, with my lines highlighted, deep in a box. At least I hope so. He was such a kind person, and a brilliant writer. (Another favorite story: "Bears Discover Fire.") I'd always hoped our paths would cross again, and I was sad to hear of his death last year.
Remembering this encounter, I'm struck by what a kind thing that was to do for an impressionable 16-year-old. I don't think that was "the" thing that made me a writer, but it certainly helped me feel like this wasn't just a dream, that there was a whole life full of great people on the other side. It was true! And as you would have it, I'm returning this year (for the seventh time) to the Mendocino Coast Writers' Conference—it starts a week from today!
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