Something Light…
“What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind.” - TH Key
Holidays and festivities! After a year of blog entries on serious psychology stuff, I decided to use a humorous story for the pure sense of entertainment! Terry Bison, a science fiction author, describes a conversation between an alien commander and a scout who has just returned from earth and is reporting back. The topic? The puzzle of the mind and brain!
Scout: “They’re made out of meat.”
Commander: “Meat?”
Scout: “There’s no doubt about it. We picked several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, probed them all the way through, they’re completely meat.”
Commander: “That’s impossible. What about radio signals, the messages to the stars?”
Scout: “They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don’t come from them, they come from machines.”
Commander: “So who made the machines? That’s who we want to contact.”
Scout: They made the machines. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Meat made the machines.”
Commander: “So… Who does the thinking?”
Commander: “That’s ridiculous. How can meat make machines? You are asking me to believe in sentient meat. Maybe they’re like the Orfolei. You know, a carbon-based intelligence that goes through the meat stage.”
Scout: “Nope. They’re born meat and die meat. We studied them for several of their lifespans, which didn’t take too long. Do you have any idea of the lifespan of meat?”
Commander: “Spare me. Ok, maybe they are only part meat. Maybe like the Weddilie. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside.”
Scout: “Nope, we thought of that, since they do have meat heads like the Weddilie. But I told you we probed them. They’re meat all the way through.”
Commander: “No brain?”
Scout: “Oh, there’s a brain all right. It’s just that the brain is made of meat.”
Commander: “So… Who does the thinking?”
Scout: “You’re not understanding, are you? The brain does the thinking. The meat.”
Commander: “Thinking meat! You’re asking me to believe in thinking meat?”
Scout: “Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you beginning to get the picture, or do I have to start all over again?”
Dr.Sonia