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Current time: March 28, 2024, 5:19 am

Poll: How are you more inclined to think?
This poll is closed.
That we are unique and/or special
25.00%
4 25.00%
That we're just another animal
75.00%
12 75.00%
Total 16 vote(s) 100%
* You voted for this item. [Show Results]

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Humans - Are we really unique?
#1
Humans - Are we really unique?
I came across a two-part feature on BBC's website that was pretty fascinating and thought some of you guys/gals would like it. If you have a spare 10-15 mins it's well worth the read and does a good job at compiling an awful lot of interesting information.

Essentially, it's two articles that give opposing sides of an argument about whether humans are really 'unique'.

The first article shows just how similar we are to other primates, and how a lot of the things that we assume makes us special, actually, aren't so special at all:

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150706-...or-special

Article 1 Wrote:There's no doubt that human abilities are more developed than those of chimps, particularly when it comes to spoken language. The point is that the differences are not stark and absolute, but rather a matter of degree – and they get subtler the more we investigate them.

I really like this article because it absolutely destroys the notion that we get our morality from religion. But that's just a bonus, what the article also says, and pretty undeniably in my opinion, is that morality isn't unique to us.

Here's some quotes I liked from the article, maybe those who don't want to read through the entire thing can just skim read the following:




So I think you get the idea with part 1. We're not as unique as we like to think we are.

Or are we?

Article 2 gives a bit of a different conclusion:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150706...ans-unique

Article 2 Wrote:Charles Darwin, in his book The Descent of Man, wrote that humans and animals only differ in degree, not kind. This still stands true but Suddendorf says that it is precisely these gradual changes that make us extraordinary and has led to "radically different possibilities of thinking".

...

as far as we know, we are the only creatures trying to understand where we came from. We also peer further back in time, and further into the future, than any other animal. What other species would think to ponder the age of the universe, or how it will end?"

This article acknowledges the points made in the first, but argues that the differences between humans and other animals, however miniscule they are on the face of it, actually add up to incredibly significant things.

Some quotes:




Again, an interesting read if you have the time.


So after all that, I will ask the question: Are we really unique? Or are we just another animal, albeit one with slightly higher brain functions than anything else on this planet?

Guess I'll turn that into a poll, seems to be the trend lately!

*edit if a mod could change the word "how" to "what" in the poll, that'd be great.
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#2
RE: Humans - Are we really unique?
Excellent dude!
More importantly, Naps, tell us what you feel is your own defining "unique" quality! (and we'll tell you ours)
No God, No fear.
Know God, Know fear.
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#3
RE: Humans - Are we really unique?
(July 14, 2015 at 8:25 am)ignoramus Wrote: More importantly, Naps, tell us what you feel is your own defining "unique" quality! (and we'll tell you ours)


Wait are you talking about me as a person? The thread's about humans as a species being unique... I thought that was obvs?

Unless you're just asking for the sake of it, in which case, it's blatantly the fact I have a pink username...
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#4
RE: Humans - Are we really unique?
Sadly, we're animals. The things a human being can do to another human being no lower animal can do to another lower animal. For instance, no lower animal has ever killed or tortured another lower animal over religious bullshit.
May be the only difference between us and them is that we can speak.
[Image: OAsWbDZ.png]
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#5
RE: Humans - Are we really unique?
(July 14, 2015 at 8:43 am)Atheist_BG Wrote: May be the only difference between us and them is that we can speak.

I think this is the biggest thing, certainly. Language, as the second article points out is what allows us to essentially pass information from generation to generation. It's this passing down of information that allows humans to snowball their collective knowledge, leading to more and more advancements every generation.
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#6
RE: Humans - Are we really unique?
(July 14, 2015 at 8:43 am)Atheist_BG Wrote: Sadly, we're animals. The things a human being can do to another human being  no lower animal can do to another lower animal. For instance, no lower animal has ever killed or tortured another lower animal over religious bullshit.
May be the only difference between us and them is that we can speak.

What's to be sad over being an animal? And there are actual instances where animals kill fellow animals. Chimps are known to form death squads hunting down rival groups. We're most closely related to them, so it's no big surprise we've taken violence to a whole new level.

My understanding of the whole issue at hand is, we are unique, but every species is unique in their own way. They all have their strengths and weaknesses.
[Image: Bumper+Sticker+-+Asheville+-+Praise+Dog3.JPG]
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#7
RE: Humans - Are we really unique?
Ever seen a cat ripping a mouse to shreds? Yeah, humans ain't the only ones who are capable of torture.
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#8
RE: Humans - Are we really unique?
The idea that humans are special is an irrational one and it strikes me as one of the biggest causes of stupidity in the world. As a law student, I know and witness how anthropocentric the legal system is - You are either a Human or an object (legally), and anything that isn't a human is an object by definition. Certainly Humans are smart and different in some sort of way, but we are not special or anything like that. I find the idea that we are to be idiotic and holding us back. Abrahamic religions are set up on the premise that Humans are god's special snowflake, and that's something that still impacts our way of thinking. Just think about it, we have occupied all of the earth's territory (except Antarctica but there's still buildings and research being done there), done most wars and committed the hugest evils, but we still see ourselves as better? Thinking
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you

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#9
RE: Humans - Are we really unique?
(July 14, 2015 at 8:55 am)Napoléon Wrote: Ever seen a cat ripping a mouse to shreds? Yeah, humans ain't the only ones who are capable of torture.

That's pure instinct. But have you ever seen a cat to kill another cat because the other cat doesn't believe in "the right" god? Or because the other cat is gay?
[Image: OAsWbDZ.png]
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#10
RE: Humans - Are we really unique?
I didn't even look at the poll because it isn't an either/or question. Obviously, we are animals like any other. Equally obvious though, our level of intelligence puts us in a totally different class. We are capable of advancement from generation to generation. We will eventually be able to direct our own evolution and improve our own species. We can become god-like. None of the other animals can do this.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

Albert Einstein
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