Mark Twain

What Is Man? Mark Twain

The Old Man and the Young Man had been conversing. The Old Man had asserted that thehuman being is merely a machine, and nothing more. The Young Man objected, and asked him togo into particulars and furnish his reasons for his position.]Old Man. What are the materials of which a steam-engine is made?Young Man. Iron, steel, brass, white-metal, and so on. O. M. Where are these found?Y. M. In the rocks. O. M. In a pure state?Y. M. No-in ores. O. M. Are the metals suddenly deposited in the ores?Y. M. No-it is the patient work of countless ages. O. M. You could make the engine out of the rocks themselves?Y. M. Yes, a brittle one and not valuable. O. M. You would not require much, of such an engine as that?Y. M. No-substantially nothing. O. M. To make a fine and capable engine, how would you proceed?Y. M. Drive tunnels and shafts into the hills; blast out the iron ore; crush it, smelt it, reduce it topig-iron; put some of it through the Bessemer process and make steel of it. Mine and treat andcombine several metals of which brass is made. O. M. Then?Y. M. Out of the perfected result, build the fine engine. O. M. You would require much of this one?Y. M. Oh, indeed yes. O. M. It could drive lathes, drills, planers, punches, polishers, in a word all the cunning machinesof a great factory?Y. M. It could. O. M. What could the stone engine do?Y. M. Drive a sewing-machine, possibly-nothing more, perhaps. O. M. Men would admire the other engine and rapturously praise it?