April 8, 2026
When aliens ghost the BBQ
They're Made Out of Meat (1991)
Aliens Roast Humanity: “Thinking Meat” resurfaces and the comments go full BBQ mode
TLDR: A beloved 1991 short story about aliens dismissing humans as “meat” resurfaced, sending readers to a viral short film and a Sagan “Meat Planet” remix. The comments split between fond nostalgia, a spam-link scare, and a grim joke about whether we’re smart enough for first contact—proof this tale still stings and sings.
Terry Bisson’s cult-classic short story “They’re Made Out of Meat” is back in the spotlight, and the internet is sizzling. Fans are gleefully sharing adaptations—cue the trippy Carl Sagan remix “Meat Planet” and a widely loved short film version making the rounds twice over here. The mood? Equal parts nostalgia and nihilism. One longtime reader drops a heartfelt tribute to Bisson’s genre-bending novels, while others giggle at the idea of aliens hearing us “sing” by pushing air through our meat. Yes, humanity is the universe’s weirdest BBQ, and everyone’s invited.
But the thread isn’t all smiles—there’s drama on the menu. A sharp-eyed commenter throws a flag on the play, alleging a compromised account and “spam links,” just as duplicate posts push the same short-film link. That tiny whiff of suspicion turns the thread into a mini-whodunnit. Then comes the existential mic drop: a deadpan wonder if advanced beings are just waiting for something “actually intelligent” to appear here on Earth. Ouch. Between the laughs and the side-eye, the crowd swings from warm, gooey nostalgia to cold, cosmic dread—and back again. Through it all, the author’s note about not reprinting keeps things respectful as fans stick to sharing links, not pirated text. Thinking meat, meet the comments section.
Key Points
- •The story is a 1991 Terry Bisson short fiction originally published in OMNI and later featured in Harper’s.
- •Two aliens discuss their findings that humans are entirely composed of meat, including their brains.
- •They state humans communicate via machines (radio) and by producing sounds with their bodies (speech and singing).
- •Official protocols mandate contacting all sentient species, but one alien proposes erasing records to avoid contact.
- •Humans are described as inhabiting one planet, traveling only in “meat containers,” and limited to light-speed (“C space”).