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Test 2: Issue Topic1
“Too much time, money, and energy are spent developing new and more elaborate
technology. Society should instead focus on maximizing the use of existing technology for the
immediate benefit of its citizens.”
Essay Response- Score 6
I must say that I reject this statement. While it is true that we need to support society as much as
possible with current technology, that does not in any way mean that we should stop progressing
simply because our current technology cannot handle all the problems we have brought to it. Does
that mean that we should simply accept the status quo and make do? No, I don’t think so. To do so
would be tantamount to adopting a fatalistic approach; I think most people would reject that.
Technology has helped, and it has hurt. Without it, we would never have our standard of living,
nor quality of nutrition, expectation of a long and productive life span, and the unshakable belief
that our lives can be made even better. But it has also brought us universal pollution, weapons so
powerful as to be capable of rendering us extinct, and the consequent fear for our survival as a
species and as a planet. Technology is indeed a double-edged sword. And yet, still have to argue in
its favor, because without it, we have no hope.
Some might argue that we would be better off without technology. They might say that a return to
a less technologically driven approach to life would have the benefits of reducing stress and
allowing us to live simpler, happier lives, like those of our forebears. Such an idea is seductive, so
much so that much of art and all of nostalgia are devoted to it. But upon closer inspection, one
realizes that such a move would only return us to a life of different kinds of stress, one of false
simplicity, one fraught with danger. It would be a life without antibiotics where a minor cut could
prove deadly. It would be a life where childbirth is the main killer of women, and where an
emergency is dealt with in terms of hours and days instead of minutes and hours; a life where
there are no phones or cars or airplanes or central heating, no proven drug therapies to treat mental
illness, no computer. Would this world really make people happy?
What we already have, we have. And since the only way to move is forward, instead of allowing
ourselves to be paralyzed by fear and worry, we need to learn how to clean up the pollution we
have caused, and how to deal with a world that feeds on weapons of mass destruction. Doing these
things means having to move away from technology into a more difficult realm, that of diplomacy
and compromise; to move from the bully stance of “I am bigger and better and I have more toys
and so I win” to a place where everyone wins.
Technology is the thing that will allow people to do that. But, advanced as it is, it is still in its
infancy. We have to allow it to grow up and mature in order to reap the real rewards that it can
bring. And there are even greater rewards ahead of us than what the world has already experienced.
When technology is pushed to the outer edge, that is where serendipitous discoveries can occur.
This has been seen throughout technological advancement, but the easiest example is probably the
space program which made us think, really hard, about how to do things in a different
environment. It gave us telecommunications, new fabrics and international cooperation.
Paramedical devices, so that people can be treated even as they are being transported to the
hospital, are a direct development of that technology. None of this would have happened in the
time frame that it did if we had not pushed for technological advancement. If we had decided to
“focus on maximizing the use of existing technology” instead of foolishly reaching for the stars,
we would not have made those discoveries which now are the bedrock of the 21st century.
It is the same with the technology which we have now. Yes, we could stop, and put all our effort
into just trying to patch things with what we have. And it would probably make a lot of people
foolishly happy. But in the long run, it would be the most expensive thing we’ve ever done
because we would thereby forestall the discovery that cures cancer, or brings world peace, or
cleans and restores the environment. And we would all suffer from that shortsightedness, for far
too long.
Test 2: Issue Topic 2
“Most of the people we consider heroic today were, in fact, very ordinary people who
happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
Essay Response- Score 6
This statement expresses, sadly a basic lack of faith in the ineffable quality of human courage, and
the transcendant desire- to give of ourselves to one another.
“Ordinary people happen to be in the right place at the right time”- this is a fine description of us
who happen across the right partner, the perfect job, the ideal house. That is called luck, not
heroism.
I expect, to some extent, that this issue depends on how one defines heroism. Heroism- to mequalifies
as such when it exemplifies courage above and beyond ordinary bounds, and particularly
when it entails sacrifice. Overcoming fear is one of the greatest challenges we as humans face, and
the heroic are those who manage to overcome this obstacle. They rise above base human behavior
and overcome their instinctive fear of death, poverty, imprisonment, alienation, and more.
When we think of heroes, whom do we most often cite? Mother Thesera, for one; a woman from a
well-to-do background who sacrificed all to serve the greater good and bring redress to the lives of
the hopelessly poor and marginalized. She renounced all that most of us hold dear- family, wealth,
comfort- in the service of others, risking disease and death all the while. How many of us could
follow her example? Can one honestly claim that she was simply in the right place at the right
time? How many others were, and did nothing? How many of us sought out her place of work in
Calcutta, to offer help?
Was the Arlington firefighter who plunged recently into a burning building merely in the right
place at the right time, or did he summon superhuman resolve to place himself squarely in the face
of danger and death? Was Audie Murphy, the most-decorated soldier of the Korean War, simply in
the right place at the right time? Yes, he was there, in the right place, at the right time, but he could
have shrunk back- instead, he risked death to save the lives of others. Many other were with him;
why were they not equally recognized? Perhaps, because they did less. Was Vaclav Havel merely
fortunate in time and circumstance when he led the Czech “Velvet Revolution”- a man who had
already suffered long confinement in communist prisons, and who knew he was risking?
I would argue that these people, whom indeed may have been perfectly ordinary, nonetheless went
a step further and found within themselves reserves of enormous courage and commitment, which
allowed them to triumph over instinct and rise to the level of heroism.
This statement above fails to take into account much of the enormous complexity of what it is that
makes us human, and fails to consider that some people possess a highly developed moral instinct
and are willing to commit themselves to the good of the many.
Any of us can be in the right place at the right time, yet most of us fail to step forward to do what
is heroic. Those who exemplify heroism are those who take that frightening step. Being in the
right place at the right time is not- cannot be- enough to constitute heroism.
Since before antiquity society has recognized this, and thus developed complex mechanisms to
honor and reward heroic behavior: Medals of Honor and the Croix de Guerre; personal rewards
such as promotions, power and money; and laudatory public events such as ticker-tape parades
and eternal flames in Arlington Cemetery. These are but outward symbols of an inner reality: that
heroism is something far greater and infinitely more transcedant than “being in the right place at
the right time”, and so ought to be, as it is, accorded dignity, reward, and respect.
Test 2: Issue Topic 1
“Great advances in knowledge necessarily involve the rejection of authority”
Essay Response- Score 6
The central tenant of history is change. History is the documentation of how things were, before
new events and ideas emerged to revolutionize the status quo. As a species, we homo sapiens are
equipped with faculties of intelligence and free will that allow us to develop an individual identity.
As individuals, we establish an individual identity based on our interests, likes, dislikes, etc. As a
species, we establish a collective identity that is the aggregate of all individual identities. What is
the link between these two roles that we play, as individuals and as a collective member of society?
It has to do with power, authority, and the subjugation of the individual will to what has been
called “the general will”.
In the 17th century, the emergence of social contract theory helped to explain (at least in a
theoretical way) how individuals came to live under an authority such as the modern stats. One of
the most important of these social contract theorists, John Locke, took a cue from the earlier
theorist Thomas Hobbes and postulated that there was an original condition, in which all humans
once existed, called “the state of nature.” In the state of nature, there was no collective power, but
only scattered individuals, who had absolute freedom to do whatever they saw fit. The state of
nature was to be governed by the “law of nature,” ordained by a omnipotent creator, that
individuals should not infringe upon the natural rights of others, specifically their life, liberty or
property. However, there was no guarantee of this, for in the state of nature there is no controlling
force of restraint, and the most powerful could easily exploit the weak. This led to the creation of a
social contract, whereby a group of individuals banded together and agreed to give up some of
their individual power in order to gain protection from their collectivity, the state, which would act
as an executive, legislative and judicial authority to preserve justice and natural rights.
This social contract theory reflected an increase in knowledge- the increasingly humanistic
philosophy that was overtaking Europe at the time advocated the eminence of the individual, and
that no power, not even the sovereign state, should be able to infringe on the rights of the
individual. Indeed, it was upon this very theory that Thomas Jefferson based his arguments against
the tyrannies of King George in the Declaration of Independence, perhaps one of the greatest
rejections of authority ever. By fighting the Revolutionary War, the 13 colonies demonstrated to
the world that a people dedicated to the cause of justice could overthow tyranny- it was a
revolutionary idea, that there should be government by, for and of the people, rather than by divine
right.
The Americans were the obvious outlet for rebellion against European power. Many came here for
religious freedom, to escape the forced recognition of a particular, state-sanctioned religion.
Indeed, the whole concept of religion underwent a radical change in the 16th century, when a
Catholic clergyman from what is now Germany went and nailed his arguments against the
Catholic churches’s selling of indulgences to the door of the church in Wurtenburg. Martin Luther
was excommunicated from the church for his heresy, for his rejection of what he saw as the
illegitimate exercise of authority by the Catholic church in Rome. Yet his act of defiance led to the
creation of a huge branch of Christianity, Protestantism and all its variations. Upon this defection
of some of its following, the Catholic church began the counterreformation, which was an attempt
to get rid of the abuses of the Catholic church and restore it to its original sanctity. This
represented change, brought on by the catalyst of dissent against the theretofore unchallenged
dominance of the authority of the Catholic church..
Another groundbreaking advance in knowledge that has created a continuing struggle with the
authority of religion occurred late in the 19th century when Charles Darwin, aboard the H.M.S.
Beagle, traveled to the Galapagos Islands of the coast of Ecuador to study the plant and animal life
there. Shortly after, Darwin published his theory of evolution, stating that life was not created by
an omnipotent god, but rather that all life evolved from the elements that were here on Earth after
the Universe came into being. After about a century of continuing experiments that seem to
conclusively prove the theory of evolution, there are still those in the religious sphere that reject
the idea out of hand simply because the Book of Genesis (in the Bible, or Torah, Old Testament),
says that God created life.
Test 2: Issue Topic 2
“What is called human nature is really a reflection of the human condition: if all eople had a
reasonable share of territory and resources, such products of ‘human nature’ as war and
crime would become extremely rare.”
Essay Response- Score 6
While it is true that human nature is a reflection of the human condition, it is not logical to assume
that creating the illusion of an equitable set of circumstances for all humans would diminish things
such as war and crime. Human nature is comprised of all the innate qualities that exist within
human beings, including but not limited to the instinct of survival, the drive to be competitive, and
the characteristic of envy.
Self-preservation is a fundamental quality that exists within all human beings. The desire to first
and foremost protect oneself is an instinct that all people are born with. The act of surviving
requires that human beings must, at times, conquer other people in order to promote their own
self-interest. War, in its most basic, justified form is merely an act of survival. When humans feel
threatened, the natural reaction is to lash out in self-defense. The threat need not be real; an
imagined sense of insecurity can easily escalate into what is perceived as a dangerous situation.
The buildup of nuclear weapons is an example of how insecurity can sow the seeds for military
action. As one world power, the Unites States for example, accumulates weapons, other countries,
such as the former Soviet Union, feel compelled to accumulate their weapons as well. To stand
idly by while another group of human beings is perceived as becoming more powerful is contrary
to the instinct that drives human beings: to survive at any cost. Even if each country is equally
well-armed, in possession of the same resources, the result is not peace and harmony. The result of
these propensities is war- not necessarily an arms war, but a war of the will.
The war of the will extends into even the most harmless aspects of life. The competitive drive is a
part of the instinct of survival that compels humans to reach beyond their present circumstances.
This competitive spirit is a double-edged sword. The spirit of competition is what pushes
individuals to succeed in every arena: sport, academics, medical advances, technological gains, etc.
However, this competitive drive can also be fundamentally damaging and lead to violence as well.
This innate spirit of competition is nurtured at an early age- even when humans are assumed to be
on the same level. Parents push their children to succeed at every level- from pre-school to
pee-wee soccer. Children learn from the example of their parents that competition is a desirable
thing; or children learn that competing means winning at any cost. The recent outbreak of violence
among parents at youth sporting events demonstrates that the spirit of competition can lead to
dangerous confrontation, even murder.
Competition in and of itself is not a negative activity, but in human terms, everything is colored by
those things which make up human nature. Human nature is also made up of vices; one of these
vices is envy. It is fundamental to humans to look to others to assess the value of their particular
standard of living. The idea of absolute equality is an illusion. Because of the human need to
compete and survive, there will always be some that have more than others. It is not natural for
humans to see others who they perceive to be similar to themselves possess more than they do and
not react to it. The reaction comes in the form of seeking to gain at any cost, to “keep up with the
Jones.” Envy leads to a desire to dominate, to conquer, to cheat to get ahead, to steal to have more
if one does not possess any other means.
If we lived in a Utopian society and all the world was an even playing field, that still could not
conquer the problems inherent in the human condition. The human condition is exactly that: a
condition. It is not something that individuals can escape from or remedy. Part of being human is
acknowledging the problems that are inherent to being human. War and crime will always exist
because they are the direct results of some of the most basic parts of human nature. The instinct of
survival, the competitive drive, and envy will continue to cause humans- in any society- to
stumble and fall.
[ 本帖最后由 iq28 于 2008-11-2 14:03 编辑 ] |
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