The Great Silence by Ted Chiang

My name isn't Polly and I don't like crackers.

An exploration of the fermi paradox and a talking parrot as the first-person narrator? Sold!

Ted Chiang is one of those special short-story writers that is on another level in terms of brilliant ideas supported by quality writing. He rarely ever disappoints and almost every story I encounter is a mind-blowing experience. "The Great Silence" is definitely thought-provoking but not on the same level as some of his other works that make your head spin with their remarkable concepts.

Even thought it is only a few pages long, this story still contains tremendous depth and is surprisingly poignant. Humanity has been obsessed with making contact with distant alien lifeforms in space but what if these "aliens" have been on Earth the whole time as certain animals? In this case, parrots. Not an entirely new premise for SF but Chiang re-conceptualizes it by taking a more philosophical, religious and speculative approach. Parrots are highly intelligent creatures with the ability to communicate with humans but we only perceive them as birds, not advanced creatures from another planet. From an epistemological perspective, how can we be certain this is true? There are so many mysteries of the universe and the search for alien life might be closer than we think. 

You can read this story HERE.