This is a question that has been debated since the beginning time and over and over again to this day. The real question is, is there truly an answer? Mark twain seems to believe, as stated in his essay “what is Man” Which is a conversation between an old man and a young man as some of his other essays were written, that the answer to this question as old as life that men are simply machines. Machines that can only act and think because of what they have seen, heard, or been taught.
Now lam no philosophy buff, I have never studied the human brain, and I m certainly no psychiatrist and I don’t try and make myself out to be one but I have met many people in my short life so far and to be a cliche as possible every man I’ve met have been like a snow flake some look eerily similar but have small details that are different, some are polar opposites, and many are somewhere In between. I would have to disagree with Mark Twain’s answer to this question which Is hard to because he is one of the smartest men and greatest writers to ever live. I disagree because men have a conscious, men have personalities, and there is no answer.
One reason I Disagree with mark twain is that one huge difference between man and machine is that a man has a conscious and a machine does not. A man thinks before he acts no matter how short or long that they think about it everything they do runs through there conscious. A man can’t act without the approval of his conscious If he thinks something Is wrong by his conscious he wont do It. However a conscious can be a very delicate subject because people may argue why is there bad things that happen If this is true, why are there murder and rape and child abuse appending.
This is Just more proof that man or not machines, some men cannot fathom killing or raping someone their conscious would never allow it. However, some men think that If they want something to happen anything they have to do to achieve that goal is acceptable and okay by their conscious. This goes to show how all men while created equal are all different and not machines. Machines have no conscious and have nothing to shape their behavior after it is made. Machines do not see things and react to them they simply do as they are told; as they are aerogramme to do machines don’t have feelings or a thought process.
In fact Mark Twain proves my point in his own argument when the old man says “It Is worked solely from the outside. That Is the law of Its make; It is the law of all machines. ” and “No. You can’t yourself, but exterior Influences can do It. ” This Is true In a sense as our experience, the people we surround ourselves with, and the education we receive both in school and on the streets affects all of our decisions and is what forms our conscious or what we think is right. This is exactly what separates us from machines, s man has a choice to make he can decide what to listen to and make his creed while machines cannot.
Machines have no personalities. Machines is that all men have personalities. All men have personalities no matter how similar all are different. No matter how many try it is a lost battle from the start, it is impossible to tell a man what to do. You can tell a man what he supposed to do, his Job or, what you want him to do but there’s no way to be sure if he’ll say yes or no. Some men will Jump right up and say yes sir or yes mama and complete his task and mom may even do more then you asked.
Some men will say they’ll do it but only do some of it, some will say they’ll do it and do none. There are also many who will tell you no and to go kick rocks, flip you the bird, and be on his way. With a machine once you turn it on and hit the correct buttons in the correct sequence it will do its Job without a word. Men don’t have any buttons some may say our fatal flaw but still there are none. Also there is no guarantee that he will do it right or the way you want it but once you program a machine to how you want it, it’ll do as it’s told.
One season some could think that men are Just machines is that they don’t realize they have a choice they have done what they’re told and had a regiment for daily activities their whole lives. Also huge difference between man and machine is feelings. No machine can truly laugh or cry or be happy, sad, or mad. These feelings affect man every day and in everything he does. This is the one thing that does come from the outside world, you don’t learn to be happy or sad and smile or cry it’s Just something that happens even if you don’t want it it happens because it’s something inside of you.
No one wants to cry but sometimes your emotions get moved to tears when something hurts you. Also when something that makes you happy happens you smile. No machine can feel emotions. The biggest reason I disagree with mark twain that the answer to the seemingly unsolvable question is that man is machine is because the question does not have just one answer. There have been some amazingly smart men who tried to tackle this question, all of them geniuses Just like Mark Twain and there is a reason all of the answers they’ve come up with haven’t been totally correct.
That reason is that here is no one answer it is almost a trick question. A man is a machine like an engine its heart, brain, and stomach and all organs are. A man I nothing but an animal like a lion doing everything it can to survive in this world killing predators and making a family. A man is like the wind with its spirit you can’t see it but you feel it, it emanates out of a person their eyes and actions. Man is no one thing, a man cannot be defined. A man is a accumulation of many great things and some poor. It has many perks and flaws. A man is everything and nothing. A man is what he makes himself.
Another reason while all of the men have failed to find the answer to this question is because they are also Just men, and no man can define another man or all man. The only a man can do is define himself The reasons I disagree with Mark Twain’s answer to what is man are because men have a conscious, men have personalities, and there is no answer as stated below. Man is a very complicated thing so I believe that it would take more than a man to define one. That is exactly what happens when you finally meet your maker and are standing in front of the pearly gates trying to get in.
Every man defines himself through his life most of them don’t write essays on it or try to define anything but there daily actions define it for them. I am not a genius like mark twain or other be all for not as I said earlier I am no philosophy buff, I have never studied the human brain, and I am certainly no psychiatrist and I don’t reckon to be one. To conclude my answer and rebuttal to mark twain is that man is man and machine is machine. However I believe, with no disrespect to Mr.. Twain you’d have to be a fool to attempt to define a man that is not yourself.