Bound by Flesh, Blinded by Belief by Roopak Kautarapu
“They’re made out of meat.” The first line of Terry Bison’s short story has altered my brain chemistry in the way I perceive the world. It’s an unsettling view on the biases, assumptions, and the nature of our intelligence. The story follows two extraterrestrial beings who find themselves trying to analyse the perception of humans and how
limited it is, like how we define intelligence of other beings through the narrow lens of familiarity with our fellow beings. The beings are in disbelief at the idea of existence of sentient meat that does not fit their frame of an intelligent being as something that
would be like us. As we progress through the conversation it becomes clear that their refusal to acknowledge that this ‘sentient meat’ is intelligent has its roots not in logic but in their prejudice. This is an unsettling reflection of the biases that us humans hold when faced with unfamiliar beings. This is not just a short science fiction tale, but it helps us reflect on the assumptions and biases we have, interrogating the blindfolds of belief that have shaped our perception of the world.
The extraterrestrials represent humanity and their perception of intelligence, identity and how the deeply ingrained assumptions we have shape our thought. We define intelligent beings by how similar they can function to us and what they cannot. This is how humans ‘other’ every being, it is a psychological phenomenon that establishes ‘identity’ where we distance ourselves from whatever we find to be unfamiliar.
The story draws parallels to Albert Camus’s The Stranger, where Meursault, the protagonist, finds himself detached from the world. He struggles to comprehend the social conditions and emotions that dictate human behaviour. “Since we’re all going to die, it’s obvious that when and how don’t matter.” He remarks. Like the aliens, this aligns with an external perspective towards society, or humans for the aliens, emphasising on how deeply the biases we have dictate what we call rational or acceptable and what is deemed ‘not fit’ to be a part of society. The aliens could not comprehend that organic matter in its pure form could have any intelligence, similarly
how Meursault fails to see how human grief, morality and emotional expression are expected. Both the narratives give us the perspective of how our assumptions shape our reality and these are what limit our ability to understand any perspective that isn’t aligned with us or our own.
The unconscious bias, our prejudices are so deeply embedded that it’s just second
nature to us. Recognises these biases by ourselves is a tough task because ethe
same biases have shaped our perception, decision-making, interactions and they
also reinforce certain stereotypes. The aliens repeatedly use the world “meat”. The understanding that humans are just meagre “meat” helps confirm their bias and aligns with their own pre-existing belief which would never let them take alternative considerations.
The Fury of Rainstorms is a poem that explores how personal experiences and
cultural conditioning shape a person’s perspective. The identity of a person is often shaped by the external factors that surround them which obscures oneself perception. Similarly, the aliens find themselves unable to look beyond the physical aspect humans being made out of “meat”.
In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper the protagonist descends into
madness that is fuelled by the constraints that societal norms and her own
psychological entrapment that drives her frustration which leave challenged her
ability to articulate their effects. The experience serves as an allegory as to how biases that are unchallenged can wrap a person’s perception and confine individuals to narrow their understanding of reality. The Aliens would entirely refuse to acknowledge the intelligence in a being that’s made entirely out of “meat” the same
way the protagonist of The Yellow Wallpaper is denied any legitimacy towards how her thoughts and emotions are perceived especially at a time when society expected women to be fragile and dependent, any view beyond would just invalidate this conditioned norm.
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch pushes his children to challenge society and its prejudices. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” This is a perfect counter to behaviour of the Aliens. Instead of seeking to understand them, a singular defining distinction has failed to convince their mentality which allows them to deny humanity outright.
This bias can also be recognised when we talked about artificial intelligence. We
humans inversely reject the idea that intelligence could come from the machines. We are sceptical about AI and its ability to think or have a consciousness. This mirrors the exact prejudice the aliens had towards humans. This is a demonstration of how
biases transcend the boundaries of species and mediums.
To discard this blindfold of belief one must engage critical self-reflection. We must be willing to accept our biases and those of society as well. We must look for diverse perspectives. This effectively allows us to practice self-examination and recognise the limitations of the human mind and perspectives we hold.
Literature is a medium that can expand this perception of ours. We can immerse
ourselves in narratives that truly challenge one’s perspective, and it can help us put ourselves in the shoes of others. Timothy Byron suggested that authors have a subconscious bias, and their life experience shape the traits of characters the story’s narrative structures. These influences are what allows reader to analyse texts by
themselves and look for the underlying assumptions and explore an alternative
interpretation.
The story of They’re Made Out of Meat is a satirical critique that leaves its readers in
the inquiry of confronting our won perspectives. The aliens’ resistance to accept that “meat” could have intelligence as a life form reflects the human tendency to reject the norms of our biases. Be it literature, psychology, social interactions; biases shape our perception in profound ways, and it often hinders our ability to with the rest of the world. This is what is limiting about the human experience.
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion” and this signifies the true freedom that lies in questioning. Questioning our own assumptions, embracing our curiosity and the fear
of the unknown are what will pull off our blindfolds of belief. Only then can the human perception every truly grasp the true complexity of the world we live.
