The Cage
Man standing in front of parking automat
G. Boersma
acrylics on masonite
23.6" in x 17.7" or 60 x 45 cm
2007
Man VS Machine
People often compare human beings to machines. I’m not programmed like that people say. Or I’m going to file this into my hard drive. He hits like a hammer or runs like a train. The examples are plentiful.
It’s true, it’s possible to compare humans to machines. Not only metaphorically, but physically as well.
Like when your car breaks down and is in need of repair, some parts of the human being are easily taken care of or even replaced by specialized doctors. Yes, we humans are made of individual parts too. Still the comparison to machines ends here.
It ends here because a human being just isn’t a machine. I can easily proof that by taking the example of the car again.
You can tear your car apart and when you put it back together again you end up with the same car. Even though you still have some screws left here and there and you replaced certain parts that were just too rusty for shiny brand new ones. It doesn’t matter, the car is back together again and runs the same like before. Or even better.
You can try and do the same thing to a human being. But if you take a human being apart and try to put him or her back together again, he or she doesn’t run like before. You killed the man or woman. Even when you don’t have any screws left so to speak: one essential ingredient is still missing and you can’t replace it. Life.
So human beings are nothing like machines. Same goes for animals I might add. They’re special and should be treated as such. We’re not machines, we’re alive and kicking and let’s never forget that.
kind regards, Gerard
