Electric meat

Years ago, a dying friend conveyed to me a short story that I've never been able to forget--a story that has influenced the way I live my life.

(That friend was John "Reeves" Hall, my college roommate and a brilliant hacker taken in his prime by skin cancer. He died at 23, having founded a company, written a book on Linux Game Programming [in our freshman year] and obtained his pilot's license, among many other accomplishments.)

I don't know if he made this story up or he got it from somewhere else.

If someone can identify the origin, I'd love to know it (and provide attribution).

Read on for the short parable.

Update: The inspiration has been found, and Franklin Chen pointed out a connection to learned helplessness.