The Six Million Dollar Man
Harold
J. Morowitz
The essayist found:
i) Human body made up of chemicals
ii) Chemical’s quantity in our body
iii) Price of 1 gm of each chemical
Conclusion of the essayist: He was not cheaper but he was six million trillion man.
Conclusion of the essayist: He was not cheaper but he was six million trillion man.
Theme of the
essay: Man with emotions, feelings, sensation, love, etc. is the most
expensive man. Though human body can be talked in terms of
money, human being is priceless.
Summary of the
essay “The Six Million Dollar Man”:
On his birthday, the writer got a card from his daughter and son in law which
stated that the price of human body is only 97 cents. The writer was not satisfied with this definition of
human body. So, he himself started to investigate the thing by himself. He
consulted a catalogue which contained the names of the different chemicals
which make a human body. The prices of the chemicals were written in the
catalogue according to per gram. Some chemicals were cheaper whereas some
chemicals were really very costly. The writer started his computation. He took
his weight and subtracted from 68 % of water portion. He found that his dry
weight 24,436 gm and by a further computation, he came to know that he was
worth of 6 million dollars.
He became very glad at this discovery. He had been sad at the information of 97
cents only but by his discovery, he suddenly felt that he was really a rich man.
But, again he gave the whole matter a second thought. He thought that the
chemicals printed in the card were only crude chemicals. So, they did cost so
little. Again, the next difficulty was the price of the refined chemicals.
Certainly, human body is not made up of crude chemicals but by the refined
chemicals. In that case, his price was certainly not only six million dollar
but six billion.
Again, he was not satisfied and started to think in a new direction. He thought
that if at all he bought all the needed chemicals and put them in a bottle and
also put the bottle in a fridge and if he shook the bottle he wasn’t going to
get a human body from it. Some organism was needed to change the chemicals into
bones, flesh, and the other organs of the body. No such method or organism is
invented yet. Even if it was invented and even if we could make a human body
with the help of chemicals and the machines, the product wouldn’t speak or feel
or be angry or love anyone.
To sum up, though science can make a human body (though it’s not possible yet),
science is certainly not going to make a human being. In fact, there is the
difference between human body and human being. Human body can be talked in the
terms of money but human being is priceless. Indeed, human being is the
infinite preciousness. This is the final definition given by the writer.
