Humans are not Machines

Humans are a special creation of God, and they are considered very amazing,
superior and innovative species on the earth owing to their intellectual power
over other living creatures. Nowadays, we live in a time where machines have
multiplied, varied, advanced and has become stronger and smarter. Humans have
been dependent on machines since the beginning of the machine's emergence in
human life, and the reliance on the machine has grown up in a very fast pace
based on daily inventions and discoveries. At the present time no human can
think of a life without machines, it is relied on thru a day to day activities in all
ways of life.

Since the advent of the machine in the human’s life, there was some kind of
competitions and challenges between both of them in that time, and it continues
up to date. Perhaps one of the best symbolic stories that commemorated the race
between man and machine is about an American worker named ”John Henry”,
who was venerated thru an American postage stamp, appears with a hammer in
his hand as if he were born with it, and was a symbol of immense physical
strength. The story is that he was a railway worker and was part of a team of
workers whose mission was to break rocks to cut tunnels into the mountains to
extend the railway lines. But “John Henry” was no ordinary worker as he was very
brilliant and skilled, and his skill soon became a legend. One day, a salesman came
to the workers with a new steam digger, and claimed that the digger could
outperform the strongest man. When “John Henry” heard it, he mocked the idea
that machines could in any way match human muscles, and thought he could
overcome the new digger. That's why it was suggested to make a match — man
against the machine — to see which one could dig a tunnel in one mountain
faster than the other. The next evening, the race began; The Steam Digger on the
right, and “John Henry” on the left. The machine advanced at first, but “John
Henry” quickly gathered his strength. The pieces of rock were falling as they each
dug their tunnel, and before long, “John Henry” was able to catch up with his
rival. A moment before the end of the race, “John Henry” was the first to
penetrate the mountain and reach his other side. His employers rejoiced, but
“John Henry”, as a result of his hard work, collapsed and lost his strength, then he
died. The story was popular in folk songs and books, and his death became a
symbol of the industrial age. This was a great victory for the machine over man,
so man lost something of his highness to the machine. But man is not just a
machine of flesh and blood, he has something much more valuable than the one
he lost, which is the mind.

Humans may not be as greater as machines, but they have advantages over the
machine in many aspects such as awareness, intrinsic feelings like happiness, joy,
and anger. In addition to motivation, creativity and ability to produce new ideas
and objects, also capability of thinking and adjusting according to the situation
and possibility of change accordingly. For example, during any process, a human
being is able to feel the force of pulling a stitching thread and estimate the need
for applying more or less energy. However, a machine can easily cause damage
because it does not have the feedback mechanism which human being has, so
making it not appropriate for the performance of the specific functions which
need a lot of intelligence. Human beings can look at a situation and think on the
best way forward. Machine can only do programmed work, and cannot think, or
feel at all. It will perform a certain duty in the same manner in all the cases
making it not very appropriate for tasks which needs thinking, also it will only
operate on commands and without the commands, the machine will not operate
until a different command is given.

Machine has many advantages as compared to humans, such as; it performs work
faster than human beings, without delay and with a very high efficiency, and able
to work without fatigue and thus can work for even twenty four hours per day.
Also, it can do various jobs that are risky, tougher or impossible and even hard
work. In addition to that, it achieves certain tasks at a very faster rate than
humans, which makes it efficient for the performance of most of duties especially
if the time is a limiting factor. In this way, the business will be able to beat all the
deadlines and ensure that there are no delays to their customers. Furthermore,
machine will also operate in the same way and will not vary with time in
producing the goods with same quality standard, which is very important
especially in mass productions where the business needs to produce a lot of
goods which are similar with one another. This make it easier to test the quality of
the goods. As another advantage, which makes the machine cost effective
comparing to employing the humans; machine is not governed by the laws of
labour concerning working hours, and to be paid a salary or a wage as opposed to
the human beings who will only work for eight hours per day and any hour above
that will be paid as overtime. At last, machine is not vulnerable to corruption,
because it will apply one standard to all situations regardless of whatever
situation presents. This is as opposed to human beings where a brother or a
friend may receive favors of the person in charge. For example, in the automated
betting systems, the machine is able to decide without bias who has won which is
opposed to a situation where a human being is in control and therefore will be
biased.
Human thru the past centuries have created and invented so many types and
kinds of machines to suit his essential needs and to make his life easier, and more
comfortable. Humans may not be as greater as machines but they are capable
enough to employ the machines to fulfill their needs. Though, machines are very
sophisticated, they cannot perform anything original. As a remarkable difference,
Humans have feelings and emotions, and they can express these emotions and
sensations, however machines never gain consciousness, just work as per the
details fed into their mechanical brain. Furthermore, humans have the capability
to understand situations, and behave accordingly, on the contrary, machines do
not have this capability just perform as they are taught. At last, machines have
limitations to their performance because they need humans to guide them,
therefore it is impossible for a machine to replace unique human features.