이상하게도 새 학년만 올라가면 공부도 안하는 제 영어 실력이 부쩍 느는 것을 느낄 수가 있는데 (아마도 자신감 때문이겠죠 - 공부는 안하지만 그래도 짬빱은 먹었다는 배짱) 이 에세이를 쓰는 동안에도 제 영어 실력이 여름방학 사이에 조금이나마 늘었음을 실감할 수가 있었습니다. 그렇게 잘 쓰여진 에세이도 아니지만 제가 그때까지 써 오던 글에 비하면 "개천에 용 난" 케이스라 괜한 집착이 가는 글입니다. 11학년 이전까지는 제 머리에 담긴 생각을 제대로 표현하지도 못했었죠. 유학을 하며 가장 어려운 부분은 역시 영어입니다.
첫 문단에선 자연스러운 흐름을 주기 위해 많은 노력을 했습니다. 에세이의 테마가 "인류의 한계"인 만큼 인간을 최대한 작은 존재로 표현하기 위해 시점을 시작부터 우주로 잡았습니다.
원래 사람의 자유의지에 대해 에세이를 쓰려면 분량은 수십 페이지가 넘어가는 것이 기본이고 양자역학 같은 넘사벽의 학문도 참고를 해야 하지만 우선 선생님의 지시에 따라 4, 5장을 넘기지 않는 선에서 마무리를 지었습니다.
그럭저럭 만족스러운 퀄러티를 보여주고 있기는 하지만, 결과적으로 인류 사회를 비판하고자 했던 초기 목표가 제대로 들어나질 않는 모습을 보여주고 있어 엄밀히 따지면 실패작으로 보고 있습니다.
미국 11학년 AP English 클래스가 쓰는 에세이의 대략적인 수준을 가늠할 수 있을 것 같습니다.
참고적인 용도로만 사용하시길 바랍니다.
Lifeless World
In the beginning, there was no space; there was no time. And then at some point of nothingness, there came a big explosion that created the heaven and the earth. The best part of this miracle is, every atom in the universe agreed to cooperate and cling together to form nebula, stars, planets, asteroids, and perhaps the most fascinating of all, life. Our planet came to hold numerous life forms, one of which includes human beings. With luck, we prospered on Earth and soon formed civilizations. Eventually, we even learned to utilize nature and create things of our own interest.
It is perhaps this charming history of our origin that makes the majority of people to believe that robots, inanimate objects created by and designed after human beings, are fundamentally inferior to them when it comes down to the ability to think. As much as people would like to be classified in a different category than robots, nothing proves that human beings are more complex and intelligent than their creation. We view robots as repetitive objects that only follow the given protocols to reach the end function of their programs, believing that human beings have no such limit. We like to take comfort in the ever sketchy idea of free will to further cover the truth. The sad truth is, no matter how many more brain cells we have, our process of thinking is almost the same as that of robots: we use the given information to calculate the best possible action and its outcome, just as computers in robots do. We also have in our blood genetic codes that constantly manage our behaviors. The only difference is, we have lots and lots of variables to calculate.
One might argue that human irrationality proves that we are fundamentally different from robots, that since some individuals make unreasonable decisions, we must be different from robots, which only make logical choices. This argument completely misses the fact that human irrationality is not irrational at all. It’s just that, because every human being is born relatively unique compared to the computer CPUs which are mass produced in factories, it becomes almost impossible to obtain all the necessary data to analyze everyone’s chains of thoughts. In other words, human irrationality is just an excuse created to cover our inability to fully understand each other. The only reason artificial intelligence seems rudimentary is we, being the creators, fully comprehend every aspect of it. If there is an omniscient being capable of understanding all the elements that make us who we are, to him our intelligence would seem just as rudimentary, repetitive, predictable, and limited.
Common sense can help prove that human beings are no different from robots. Incapable of rewinding the flow of time, a human being can only make one choice in a given environment. Of course, those who disagree might argue that human beings are capable of making multiple decisions at once. They, however, fail to perceive that human beings are actually not capable of creating any decisions at all. The list of decisions people can make has been already given by the predetermined environment, which no human being can alter beyond the limit of time. Simply put, human beings do not “make” decisions. Rather, they “choose” decisions through the process of mental calculations, and because there is nothing “irrational” about the way we think, every choice we make is bound to be the most rational choice (however flawed it may be) that would most closely satisfy the ultimate motivation of life, which is to be happy.
The concept of infinite universes can help clarify this point. If there exists an infinite number of universes, all of which that contain the exact same environments and the exact same inhabitants, logically, each inhabitant in every universe would act the exact same way since all the conditions within the universes are the same. If human beings are indeed capable of making both rational and irrational decisions freely, there needs to be an infinite number of different actions taken by the inhabitants of the universes. But as even the simplest form of logic would suggest, identical universes can only give birth to identical courses of events, because every condition leading to the events are exactly the same.
To think that we can actually transcend the decisions we make is blatantly arrogant. No matter how much we try to be free from ourselves, we are still bound to our flesh. There is no reason to believe that human beings are more sophisticated than robots simply because our bodies are mostly made of protein. Who is to say that we are not as inanimate as robots? Who is to say that our bodies, which are made only to rot underground one day, are better than silicons and plastics, which do not rot as fast? Sure, robots can't naturally appreciate art or music or love, but what difference does it make? We are beings that cannot do anything beyond our comprehension and cannot comprehend anything beyond our humane limit. We are, in a sense, biological robots.
Look around the world we live in today. Every day, people mindlessly go about their businesses without knowing what really drives them. Not many ever make the effort to understand things beyond our five senses, and even fewer people vaguely understand themselves. Where we had the chance to differentiate ourselves from robots, we have failed, and are continuing to fail. The result is the creation of a world no bigger than a sandcastle, which can crumble and fade away in a matter of seconds. Why is it that we marvel at the “progress” we've achieved so far when the same progress polluted the Earth, drove many species to extinction, and began melting the whole world? Why is it that we have a special predilection for killing each other, to a point where we created weapons capable of destroying the entire world over and over again? Why is it that we can easily save the whole world from starvation, yet still decide to invest 75 times the necessary money into war preparations? Whereas human beings would come up with many different complex answers to these questions, all robots would answer, with certainty and clarity, that it is because we are humans. That, cannot be further away from the truth.
코멘트는 언제든지 환영합니다.
댓글 없음:
댓글 쓰기