Though not nearly as supernatural as its namesake, Bones Season 5, Episode 11 (“The X in the File“) concludes with a deliciously philosophical exchange.

But first, a brief plot summary:

An out-of-this-world case brings Brennan and Booth to New Mexico where they investigate human remains with extraterrestrial attributes. The victim is identified as a local UFO fanatic, known around town for her relentless search for alien life forms and whose latest “evidence” leads even Brennan and Booth to re-think outside existence. Meanwhile, a local sheriff refuses to release the bones, forcing the team at the Jeffersonian to work via satellite, and Angela and Jeffersonian intern Wendell come clean about their relationship.

After the case is wrapped up, Brennan and Booth celebrate with a little star gazing. In the middle of the desert, lounging on the hood of Booth’s car, the two wonder about the possibility that life exists on other planets:

(Brennan and Booth, alternating)

It’s ridiculous to think there’s anything on this planet which merits crossing what are literally astronomical distances.

Do you think aliens are anthropologists? Maybe they just want to study our religion, sex, love, our fine languages and line dancing.

That’s an interesting possibility I hadn’t considered.

They’re living creatures, they like to reach out, Bones.

Living creatures like to reach out and eat each other.

Oh. So what are you saying, that the aliens are going to come down here, and drink our spinal fluid?

Well, if the aliens are advanced enough to fly faster than light, then they can probably make spinal fluid.

You just said that aliens are nice.

Did not.

You just basically said that aliens are nice anthropologists.

I do not think so.

You think that aliens are you!

You got me. I was sent down as an advance scout.

At first, I thought the conversation might veer towards the ethical, with Brennan arguing that the aliens – being of superior intelligence and all – would have earned the right to drink our spinal fluid. After all, this is one of the most common justifications given for our individual and institutionalized exploitation of nonhuman animals (e.g., humans are more evolved, intelligent, refined, civilized, etc. – the “top of the food chain,” “because we can” school of “thought”). Taken to its logical conclusion, this line of reasoning grants a similar license to exploit us “lesser” humans to hypothetical intelligent alien visitors.

Alas, the episode ends on a lighter note. Even so, when Brennan suggests that the aliens could – and would – develop and consume synthetic spinal fluid, and Booth implies that this would indeed be the “nice” thing to do, I can’t help but read this as a subtle plea for veganism: why harm sentient beings for sustenance when you’ve no need? Exploiting just to exploit is “not nice” at best.

Thoughts?

Mylène @ My Face Is On Fire recently wrote about scifi author Terry Bisson’s 1991 short story “They’re Made Out of Meat,” which she noted, “provides an interesting twist on how most humans view animals.”

Wiki’s entry is on the story is rather short (but then, so’s the story!) – and contains spoilers – so if you’d rather be surprised, skip right on down to the video and press play before reading further. The running time is 7 1/2 minutes, but it’s worth every second.

They’re Made Out of Meat is a Nebula Award-nominated short story by Terry Bisson. It was originally published in OMNI. It consists entirely of dialogue between two characters, and Bisson’s website hosts a theatrical adaptation. A film adaptation won the Grand Prize at the Seattle Science Fiction Museum’s 2006 film festival.

(The aforementioned award-winning short is what I’ve embedded below.)

The two characters are sentient beings capable of traveling faster than light, on a mission to “contact, welcome and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in this quadrant of the Universe.” Bisson’s stage directions represent them as “two lights moving like fireflies among the stars” on a projection screen. They converse briefly on their bizarre discovery of carbon-based life, which they refer to incredulously as “thinking meat.” They agree to “erase the records and forget the whole thing,” marking the Solar System “unoccupied.”

Interestingly, the only link listed under “See also” is “Carbon chauvinism“:

Carbon chauvinism is a relatively new term meant to disparage the assumption that extraterrestrial life will resemble life on Earth. In particular, it would be applied to those who assume that the molecules responsible for the chemical processes of life must be constructed primarily from carbon. It suggests that, as carbon-based life forms who have never encountered any life that has evolved outside the earth’s environment, human beings may find it difficult to envision radically different biochemistries. The term was used as early as 1973, when Carl Sagan described it and other human chauvinisms that limit imagination of possible extraterrestrial life in his Cosmic Connection.

From there, you can go to “Anthropocentrism,” “Chauvinism,” “Chemical evolution,” “Carbon-based life,” and “They’re Made Out of Meat.”

I always found our humanoid conceptions of aliens life forms to be unreal and egotistical, but never considered it a form of prejudice. But yeah, “carbon chauvinism” (carbonism?) sounds about right. How fitting, then, that “anthropocentrism” (which links to “speciesism”) is referenced in the entry.

Anyhow, this short adaptation of “They’re Made Out of Meat” is really well done, and – if you’re so predisposed (read: intellectually honest) – the themes can equally be applied to our treatment of non-human animals.

See also: Damon Knight’s “To Serve Man.”
 

Many thanks to Mylène for the video!

This series of retro ’50s monster movie poster adverts for the SciFi Channel has little to do with animal advocacy – but why let a lil’ thing like that stop me from putting an animal-friendly spin on ‘em?

Each “poster” depicts an iconic movie monster recoiling in horror as a human invades his space:

From top to bottom, we have The Thing (or The Creature from the Black Lagoon or similar), hastily exiting the water and looking back in fear as the head of a human woman begins to emerge from the tide; a dead zombie, previously safely ensconced in the confines of his coffin, trying to escape a menacing human hand, coming at him from above; and a family of gray aliens, frantically running to and fro, as they witness an “alien” aircraft (read: human airplane) circle the skies above. Printed in a retro horror movie font on each poster are the words, “HUMANS ARE AMONG US.”

Though clearly tongue-in-cheek, these posters depict humans as the real monsters, contrary to the plot of nearly every scifi and/or horror movie ever made. The Thing, undead zombies, and anal-probing gray aliens: none hold a candle to humanity when it comes to violence, domination, bloodthirst and evil. Commonly, horror films portray monsters and aliens as creatures to be feared, but in reality, it’s the other way around: they should fear us. Monsters walk among us, and we are them.

I’m particularly tickled by this theme because, more often than not, I find myself rooting for the monsters and aliens in these movies. Humanity tortures, enslaves, slaughters and exploits sentient creatures – mostly non-human, some human – by the billions. Why, then, shouldn’t I root for the reptilian monster men, who have possibly come seeking righteous vengeance for their victimized cousins, made into crocodile-skin purses or brutalized in shitty roadside alligator wrestling operations?

This is especially true of my reading of alien-invasion stories. Here, aliens from faraway planets invade earth, with the intention of exploiting her natural resources – including us! – for their own convenience or survival. As the plot unfolds, almost without fail, humanity rallies together in order to valiantly defend against these malicious, technologically and/or evolutionarily advanced would-be conquerors. The deck is always stacked against us, yet we rarely fail to triumph. It goes without saying, of course, that the audience is to rally behind humanity.

But I rarely do. After all, aren’t the aliens just doing to us, what we have done to non-human animals for centuries? And aren’t (our collective) logic, reason, ethics, science and philosophy on the aliens’ side? As I said, these aliens are usually depicted as more “advanced” than us: they have superior technology; can travel through space (and perhaps time as well); sometimes exhibit “psychic” powers, or abilities that are well beyond our understanding; and are generally portrayed as intellectually more evolved than us (as evidence by their massive heads). Humans point to similar advantages we wield over non-human animals to justify our exploitation and enslavement of them. If superior might/intelligence/emotions/technology/consciousness/self-awareness makes right, isn’t it the aliens’ right to subjugate us?

Of course not! – as any animal liberationist will tell you. But seeing as the human heroes of these alien invasion films (presumably) see nothing wrong in exploiting “lesser” animals, methinks I’ll stick with the monsters and aliens. I’m probably safer among them, anyhow.