Unit 7To Err Is Human

The author: Lewis Thomas

Background Information

1.Introduction to the Author

Lewis Thomas, U.S. physician and author, was born in Queens, N.Y. in 1913. He attended medical school at Harvard and later taught at various universities. He was president of New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center 1973-83. He translated his passionate interest in and wonder at the intricate mysteries of biology into lucid meditations and reflections on biology in award-winning essays. The best known of his widely read books is The Lives of a Cell (1974, National Book Award). He also was the author of The Youngest Science. Dr. Lewis died in 1994.

刘易斯 ·托马斯博士（ Lewis Thomas,1913 ～ 1993）是美国杰出的医学家和教育家。他出身于纽约的一个医生家庭，毕业于哈佛医学院，曾经在许多著名的大学医院行医，主持研究和领导教学工作。他亲身经历了本世纪医学的重要发展时期，做出过许多创造性业绩。他的阅历丰富，学识渊博，思想深邃。和许多优秀的科学家一样，托马斯的兴趣广泛，关心社会和人类的命运，并且爱好音乐，长于诗文。 70 年代初，他应美国最负盛名的医学刊物《新英格兰医学杂志》 (New England Journal of Medicine)主编之约，为该刊撰写专栏文章，笔触所及纵情宇宙万物，讴歌生命、大自然和人类的科学事业；对医疗技术和保健体制的论述鞭辟入里，富有远见。这些寓意深刻、情理交融、文笔清新的科学随笔，后来集成《细胞生命的礼赞》和《水母与蜗牛》。

2. Introduction to the Text

Given our increasing dependence on computers, we are likely to experience the effects of increasing computer errors. How many of these errors can be blamed on the computers themselves or on their users, us, is hard to say. The author of To Err Is Human ponders whether or not computers will in the future be able to learn from their own mistakes. He concludes that if comnputers can some day learn from their own mistakes, they will be of great benefit to some of our greatest challenges. However, until that time, it is we, only we, who can learn from our mistakes and in so doing overcome challenges and obstacles. It is this ability that puts us above other animals; it is this ability that makes us great. Will we be able to instill in computers the same ability we possess? Perhaps. However, it will only be through our own trial, error, and eventual success.

• The organization of the passage• The article is divided into three parts: part one consists o

f the first five paragraphs. Part two is from para 6 to para 13. the rest is part three.

• Part 1: contrary to conventional beliefs that machines are flawless, computers are likely to make mistakes because they are extensions of the human brain

• Part 2: human fallibility may be a unique human gift and it is the source of the human inventions.

• Part 3: computer mistakes should not be bemoaned as they can ultimately be used to improve human life.

Language Points

Para 1:

1. Bank balances are suddenly reported to have jumped from $379 into the millions, appeals for charitable contributions are mailed over and over to people with crazy-sounding names at your address…(lines 2-5, para. 1):

Your bank statement suddenly informed you that your balance has been increased from $379 to several millions. And mails for other people with funny-sounding names asking for monetary donation are sent to your address again and again… Appeal for means an urgent request for something important such as money or help, esp. to help someone in a bad situation. Crazy-sounding names means names with very strange spelling and pronunciation (usually out of one’s ethnic group).

2. If you manage to get in touch with someone and complain, you then get instantaneously typed, guilty letters from the same computer,…(lines 7-9, para. 1):

If you try to find someone to complain to, then immediately you get an apology letter from the same computer…

Para. 2

3. These are supposed to be the sheerest, blindest accidents.(line1, para2 ):

These can be regarded as the most common and unintentional accidents. Blindest here means not done intentionally.

• 4. If things go wrong, it must be a personal, human error, the result of fingering, tampering, a button getting stuck, someone hitting the wrong key.(lines 3-5, para 2 ):

If there are some mistakes, it must be caused by people when they type, touching the things they shouldn’t, making a key non-functioanl, or pressing a wrong button. Getting stuck means being fixed in a position and losing power of motion.

• 5. The computer, at its normal best, is infalli

ble. (line5, para2 ):

• Ideally, the computer won’t make any mistak

e. At its normal best means when perfomin

g well, as it usually does.

• Question for students ( based on para. 2 )

• 1. According to the article, if a computer makes a mistakes, who is to blame: the computer or the person who uses the computer? Why?

• The person who uses the computer is to blame because it must be a human error and the computer is infallible.

• Para. 3

• 6. After all, the whole point of computers is that they represent an extension of the human brain, vastly improved upon but nontheless human, superhuman maybe.(lines 1-3, para 3 ):

• It must be remembered that the nature of computers is that they extend the power of the human brain, more powerful than human brains in some aspects, but never a human brain in the real sense. Superman might be a proper name for computers.

para 4 , lines 5-7, • 7. …and the turning of the spools gives them the

look of wild creatures rolling their eyes in the effort to concentrate, choking with information

• …the spinning spools are like wild animals’ big eyes when they try to think of the answers to some very difficult problems, involving huge amounts of information. Here them refers to computers; the look of wild creatures means that the computers seems to come alive and resemble wild living beings.

choke v.: If things choke a place, they fill it and prevent any movement in it.

e.g. the center of the city was choked with cars.

Is the computer really infallible?

• 8. But real thinking, and dreaming, are othe

r matters.( line 7, para 4 ):

• But human thinking and dreaming is anothe

r picture. Reality and fantasy differ.

Question for students based on para 4

• Why does the author say, “ But real thinking and dreaming are other matters”?

• Because though computers may look like human in some respects, they can not do more than they are programmed to do

Para.5

9. On the other hand, the evidences of something like an

unconscious, equivalent to ours, are all around, in ever

y mail. (lines 1-2)

On the other hand, the evidences that the computer

has an unconscious state, a mental state similar to tha

t of human beings, can be seen.

equivalent n.: an equivalent is sth that has the same use or function as sth else.

e.g. Kabutocho,Japan’s equivalent of Wall Street, plays an important part in the Japanese financial field.

A good quilt can be the equivalent of at least three blankets.

10. As extensions of the human brain, they have been constructed with the same property of error, spontaneous, uncontrolled, and rich in possibilities.(lines 2-4, para. 5):

Functioning as our extended brain, computers are born with mistakes of our human beings, so natural and helpless and highly possible.

para. 6

11. Mistakes are at the very base of human thought, embedded there, feeding the structure like root nodules.(lines 1-2, para. 6):

Mistakes are deeply rooted in the human mind.

12. If we were not provided with the knack of being wrong, we could never get anything useful done (lines 2-3, para. 6):

If there were no mistakes with us, we could never achieve anything useful. A knack means a particularly clever or skillful way of doing anything successfully, especially something that most people find difficult.

13.We think our way along by choosing between right and wrong alternatives, and the wrong choices between right and wrong and to make right choices we have to make just as many wrong choices.( lines4-6, para6 ):

We always make choices between right and wrong and to make right choices we have to make just as many wrong choices.

• 14. We get along in life this way (line 6, para 6 ):

• We manage to live this way. Get along means continue, often in spite of difficulty.

• Para.7

• 15. We are built to make mistakes.( lines 6-7, para7 ):

• Mistakes are part of our human nature.

• 16. The old phrase puts it that way because that is, in real life, the way it is done. ( lines 2-3, para 7 ):

• The old saying expresses it in that way because in reality it proves true.

Question for students ( based on para 7 )

• The author explains why we always say, “ trial and error” instead of “ trial and rightness.” Do you agree with him ? Why?

• Yes he’s right. Just as the proverb says, “ Failure is the mother of Success.”

This Is Lewis Thomas’ Laboratory At Princeton University

This Is Lewis Thomas’ Laboratory

At Princeton University

• Para. 8• 17. Almost everything is done flawlessly, by the

book, and all the numbers add up to the predicted sums.( lines 2-3, para. 8 ):

• Almost everything is done perfectly according to the rules, and all the nunbers are added up to the expected amount.

• By the book means exactly according to rules and instructions.

• 18….the wrong buffer, something in one of the blanks, a decimal misplaced in reading counts, the warm room off by a degree and a half, a mouse out of his box, or just a misleading of the day’s protocol.( lines 5-8, para 8 ):

• …someone stores the information in the wrong place in the computer, something cannot be found. A wrong decimal is put in the sums or what was to be done today comes out wrong.

• 19. whatever, when the results come in, something is obviously screwed up, and then the action can be begin. ( lines 8-9, para 8 ):

• No matter what mistake it is, when the computer is fed, something obviously gets messed up and consequent mistakes will follow.

• Screw up: If you screw sth up, you make it fail or get it badly wrong and cause disorder; a very informal expression.

• e.g. He can’t do that; that screws up all my arrangements.

• The car broke down, which screwed up our holiday.

• Para. 9• 20. The misleading is not the important error;

it opens the way. (line1, para 9):

• The mistake itself is not so serious; it ( the misleading ) starts the process which enables someone to make a decision.

• 21. If investigator can bring himself to say, “but even so, look at that!” then the new finding, whatever it is, is ready for snatching ( lines 2-4, para 9 ):

• The researcher can bear to say: “ But even if there are mistakes, look at the results!” then a new finding, no matter what, is available.

• 22. what is needed, for progress to be made, is the move based on the error. (lines 4-5, para 9):

• What we need for making progress is to take actions to deal with mistakes already made.

• Para. 10• 23. whatever new kinds of thinking are about to

be accomplished, or new varieties of music, there has to be an argument before hand. (lines 1-2, para10 ):

• Whenever we are going to have some kinds of new ideas, or there are new kinds of musical to be composed, there are two voices inside our minds argueing with each other in advance.

• 24. With two sides debating in the same mind, haranguing, there is an amiable understanding that one is right and the other wrong ( lines 3-4, para10):

• When the two voices argue with each other, we tend to come to the conclusion that one is right and the other is wrong.

• 25.The hope is in the faculty of wrongness,

the tendency toward error.( lines 6-7, para 1

0 ):

• The hope lies in our ability to make mista

kes, the inclination to make mistakes. Facul

ty means power or ability.

• 26. The capacity to leap across mountains of information to land lightly on the wrong side represents the hightest of human endowments.( lines 7-9, para 10 ):

The capacity to jump over mountains of information ( to ignore lots of information leading to right conclusion) to draw the wrong conclusion so easily shows the most powerful part of human minds.

Mountains of information means huge amounts of information.

• Para. 11• 27. Other creatures do not seem to have DNA s

equences for making mistakes as a routine part of daily living, certainly not for programmed error as a guide for action.( lines2-4, para 11)

• Other animals are not likely to have the inherited genes for making mistakes a part of their daily life, surely not the kind of given mistakes necessary for take actions. DNA is the acronym for deoxyribonucleic acid.

• Para. 12• 28. We are not our human finest, dancing with o

ur minds, when there are more choices than two.( lines 1-2, para 12)

• When there are more choices than two, our minds can work best, trying to make a better choice.

• At our human finest is derived from the phrase at one’s best which means in one’s best state or form.

• 29. …all but one bound to be wrong, and the richness of the selection in such situations can lift us into totally new ground. ( lines -4, para 12):

• … only one choice is correct and in such a case the variety of choices can bring us to a completely new field.

• 30. If we had only a single center in our brains,

capable of responding only when a correct deci

sion was to be made, instead of the jmble of diff

erent, credulous, easily conned clusters of neur

ones that provide for being flung off into blind al

leys, up trees, down dead ends, out into blue sk

y, along wrong turnings, around bends, we coul

d only stay the way we are today, stuck fast. (li

nes 5-11, para. 12):

If our minds had only one function, namely only being able to make the right decision, rather than have the ability to deal with different clusters of choices, easily deceived information which challenges us to struggle to the rigt decision and so on so forth, we could only remain where we are today without going forward. Stuck fast means fix firmly.

Con v.: deceive e.g. Don’t try to con the doctor into prescribin

g a tranquilizer. He goes around conning people out of their

money.

fling off: throw sb off; remove a piece of clothing quickly

e.g. She ran into the bedroom, where she flung off her dress and took out a clean one.

They flung off their pursuers.

Para. 13

31. Cats, for all their good side, never make

mistakes. (lines 2-3, para. 13):

The good side of cats is that they never

make mistakes.

32. …but they get this way by trying to mimic their masters. (lines. 5-6, para. 13 ):

…that dogs sometimes make small mistakes is the result of their imitating their human masters.

Question for students based on para. 13

• What is the main difference between the low animals and the higher animals according to the author? Why does he mention the low animals?

• According to the author, low animals are absolutely infallible while higher animals like humans are fallible. Comparing the two, the author tries to prove “ to err is human.

Para. 14

33. Give the computers their heads, I say; let them go their way. (lines 2-3, para. 14):

I suggest we humans let the computers do whatever they want for us in their way.

34. If we can learn to do this, turning our heads to one side and wincing while the work proceeds, the possibilities for the future of mankind, and computerkind, are limitless. (lines 3-6, para. 14):

If we can allow ourselves to turn to computers for lots of work, stepping back from whatever computers will do, then both the computers and we human beings can, by taking advantage of computers, reach our full potential.

35. Your average good computer can make calculations in an instant which would take a lifetime of slide rules for any of us. (lines 6-8, para. 14):

Any computers can do calculations in a second which would take human beings their entire lives to finish by using a slide rule.

36. Think of what we could gain from the near infinity of precise, machine-made miscomputation which is now so easily within our grasp. (lines 8-10, para. 14):

Imagine what we may get from countless computer-made miscomputation which is available to us. Within our grasp means under our control.

37. How, for instance, should we go about organizing ourselves for social living on a planetary scale, now that we have become, as a plain fact of life, a single community? (lines 11-13, para. 14):

How, for example, should we arrange ourselves for a social living suitable for living on a planet since actually we have become one community? Go about organizing ourselves means proceed to organize ourselves; on a planetary scale means on a worldwide scale, and single community means a global village.

38. We can assume, as a working hypothesis, that all the right ways of doing this are unworkable. (lines 13-14, para. 14):

Suppose all the above things won’t work. a working hypothesis means a formula good / valid enough as a basis for argument, which may be reformulated later.

39. What we need, then, for moving ahead, is a set of wrong alternatives much longer and more interesting than the short list of mistaken courses that any of us can think up right now. (lines 14-7, para. 14):

What we need, then, for making progress, is a long list of wrong choices, which is more attractive than the short list of mistaken courses which any of us can come up with.

40. We need, in fact, an infinite list, and when it is printed out we need the computer to turn on itself and select, at random, the next way to go. (lines 17-19, para. 14):

Actually we need an endless list fro the computer to make choices by itself and to decide what to do next.

at random: done without a definite plan, pattern or purpose.

e.g. Bullets were being fired into the crowd at random.

He opened the book at random.

41. If it is a big enough mistake, we could find ourselves on a new level, stunned, out in the clear, ready to move again.(lines 19-21, para. 14):

If the mistake is serious enough. We could find ourselves advanced, shocked greatly, yet free from burdens and interference and ready to take next actions. In the clear means free from burdens of dangers.

Stun v.: if you are stunned by sth, you are shocked or astonished by it and often are therefore unable to speak or do anything.

e.g. We were all stunned by the news.

This film stunned the movie world in 1995.