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Comment by ordu | Hacker News Reader

It is a translation into English from Alien. Really they meant not meat as such, but some broader category of substances. It was translated as meat because it is the closest match to a category used by aliens.

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What could "meat" mean besides "the edible parts of conscious beings"?

The edible part of biological entities regardless of consciousness? Not all animals are believed to be conscious - even on this planet.

OK, but then don't the aliens still fall into that category? If they are alive, aren't they also biological entities by definition?

I think this is the attitude is what the author is trying to parody. It is OUR assumption that intelligence must emanate from something biological, whereas these entities are having sentimental chats with a hydrogen core cluster.

I am not saying stellar formations couldn't be intelligent. What I am saying is that if they are, then they would fall under the umbrella of life and therefore also biological matter. Biological matter is by definition the matter of things which are/were alive.

Obviously their conception of "biological matter" would then be much different and more general from our current conception of "biological matter", but what exactly in that difference makes ours inherently funnier than theirs?

Oxford language has intelligence as: 'the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.' Wikipedia says: 'Biological material may refer to: Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, or is composed of organic compounds' Of course, both 'intelligence' and 'life' are words that are difficult to put a pin down. But most people imagine their 'intelligence' as being a separate entity from the body itself.(I'm not one of those, though I often wish I was) It is debated whether a virus is 'alive' but it certainly seems to exhibit something like intelligence. Most of the debate in the comments refers to AI, which may someday be something like intelligent, but will continue to not be biological. I find the story amusing because it illuminates the limits of our understanding when we're fettered by presuppositions, and reminds us that, at the end of the day, all of our 'objective science' is colored by the inevitable prejudices that come from our biological perspective. Just because we lack the imagination to visualize intelligence without life, doesn't mean that it's impossible. The alien accepting the report is baffled and confused because IT can't believe that intelligence DOES exist in biological matter.

Perhaps the aliens are not edible.

A mix of carbohydrates, proteins and fats?

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