Lesson 4 The Essence of Being Human
Klara and the Sun
Klara is an AF (Artificial Friend), a companion robot for children.
She is solar-powered.
She stays healthy when she gets the Sun’s nourishment but feels weak and lifeless without sunlight.
At the robot store, she enjoyed taking in the outside world from the windows.
Klara closely observed what she saw, hoping to learn everything necessary to be a caring and helpful AF.
One evening, she discovered that a homeless man was lying on the street without moving.
Klara was sad as she believed he had died.
But the next morning when the Sun was shining, she was surprised to see that the homeless man was sitting up and stroking his dog.
Klara believed the Sun had saved him and came to have strong faith in the Sun’s power to restore everything.
One day, a fourteen-year-old girl named Josie visited the shop with her mother, Chrissie.
Josie chatted with Klara joyfully.
Josie immediately took a liking to Klara and asked whether Klara wanted to be her friend.
Josie: I really want you to come to my home.
I think you’ll like my room, and we’ll see the beautiful sunset from the windows there.
We can do all the great things together all the time while I’m growing up.
You want to come, right?
Klara: (nodding hopefully)
Josie: That’s so good, but I want to be honest with you.
I know how bad you’ll feel after people promise you perfect things and they turn out not to be so.
Some days I’m not so healthy or happy. I do not know why.
Do you still want to come, Klara?
Klara: If there’s anything difficult or scary, we will face it together.
To show that she would do her best to be Josie’s friend, Klara held her hands together and shook them slightly.
Pleased by Klara’s gesture of friendship, Josie asked Chrissie for her permission to buy the AF.
Chrissie asked Klara what she had observed about Josie, and found Klara to be highly observant.
After requesting that Klara continue to care about Josie, Chrissie agreed to buy Klara and took her home.
In Josie’s country home,
In Josie’s country home, Klara found out that Josie had gone through a procedure known as “lifting.”
By being lifted, Josie’s cognitive abilities had been genetically enhanced so that she had a better chance of getting into prestigious universities.
However, Josie was suffering from serious side effects similar to those that had claimed the life of her sister, Sal.
A mysterious chronic illness often caused her to stay in bed for days on end.
Because of this, Josie spent most of her time at home and was being educated there.
One day when Josie felt better, her mother took her and Klara to the city so that Josie could have her portrait done by Mr. Capaldi.
In Capaldi’s studio, Klara was asked to answer a questionnaire about Josie.
Looking around the studio after completing the questionnaire, Klara entered Capaldi’s office.
To her surprise, she saw something that looked like Josie suspended in the air-it was an AF replica of Josie’s body!
As it turned out, Mr. Capaldi was not a painter but a scientist, who planned with Chrissie to transfer Klara’s consciousness to the replica and make a new Josie if the real Josie were to die.
Capaldi: Klara, tell me what you think about the replica.
Klara: It resembles Josie quite accurately.
Mr. Capaldi, you have done a good job of capturing Josie’s appearance.
I now understand why Chrissie asked me, at every step, to observe and learn Josie.
The survey seems to test how well I have come to know Josie and how well I understand her decisions and feelings.
Capaldi: We will ask you to become her and to live in that replica of Josie with everything you have learned.
Learn Josie, not just superficially, but deeply, entirely.
You have to continue her for Chrissie and for everyone else who loves Josie.
Chrissie: I have doubts.
I’m still not sure if this whole plan is the best thing we can do.
I have been afraid of losing Josie ever since I lost Sal.
That is why I agreed with you on this replica, but however well you make it, I don’t think I will be able to accept this AF as my Josie.
Capaldi: You must not lose faith, Chrissie.
The survey Klara has successfully completed is clear evidence that she is already well on her way to understanding all of Josie’s drives and desires.
You believe that there is something unreachable inside each of us, something that is unique and won’t transfer.
But there is nothing like that.
The new Josie won’t be an imitation.
She will be the exact same person and you will have every right to love her just as you love Josie now.
Chrissie: But will I believe in it?
When the day comes, will I really?
Klara: Excuse me, but I would like to say there is a chance you will never need the new Josie.
She may overcome her illness.
If the day comes when you do need the new Josie, I will do my best to become as close to her as possible.
However, it is wrong to give up hope already.
Josie’s health took a turn for the worse after she returned from the city.
This made Klara determined to do everything she could for Josie.
Klara remembered the barn into which the Sun had disappeared when she and Josie had been watching the sunset in Josie’s room.
Believing it to be the Sun’s resting place, Klara visited there to pray to the Sun for Josie’s recovery.
Klara: You must be so tired, and I’m very sorry to disturb you, but I have come here this evening to ask a special favor.
I have never forgotten how strong your power to restore everything is.
Josie is becoming weaker and weaker each day.
Please send Josie the special nourishment she so desperately requires as you did that day to the homeless man.
The Sun was then sinking into the ground, but Klara could tell he was smiling at her as he went down for his nightly rest.
Out of gratitude and respect, Klara continued to look at the Sun until his last light vanished into the ground.
After several rainy days, the Sun came out to shine light on Josie and her whole bed.
Josie woke up and made a miraculous recovery.
Seasons and years went by, and she grew into a healthy adult.
When Josie left for college, Klara was sent to the Yard, a place where old AFs spend their remaining days at the end of their lives.
In the Yard, she remembered her days with Josie.
Klara: Josie was the best teenager for me.
I did all I could to learn Josie and to do what was best for her.
If it had become necessary, I could have continued Josie.
But I don’t think it would have worked out so well.
Not because I wouldn’t have achieved accuracy, but however hard I tried, I believe now there would have remained something beyond my reach.
Mr. Capaldi believed there was nothing special inside Josie, but I believe now that there was something very special.
But it wasn’t inside Josie.
It was inside those who loved her.
I would have never reached what they felt for Josie in their hearts.
I am sure of this now.
4과 본문 pdf 파일 다운받기
4과 본문 음원 전체 듣기
