Why humans are so distinct from other species?

[paulpablo]

Humans, in proper shape, have the most running endurance of land animals.

That isnt true, what about a camel? or a wolf

oh wait i might be wrong about this, i just read up on a book called born to run about some tribal people who can run mental distances

[ManMachine]

Any thoughts on why humans differ so much from other species in terms of intelligence?

We aren't. We just like to think we are.

MM

[Creed of Heresy]

"We aren't, we just like to think we are." I keep hearing this a lot. "Human arrogance!" I keep hearing the cry come forth.

I reply: Yeah? So?

Arrogance is a display of superiority or self-importance. And I'd say that, yes, we ARE displaying superiority and self-importance. There aren't a grand many human beings who would take a bullet in place of an animal, even their pet, even some of the most radical members of PETA wouldn't do that shit. I haven't seen any animals lately erecting giant superstructures, constructing supercomputers, or supercolliders. I haven't ever seen any animals build even a farm, either. I've seen beavers build dams at least:


But then I've also seen what a human-built dam looks like...



CAN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE HERE. It's almost like humans are entirely indistinct from other animals.

I call bullshit and intellectual dishonesty among those arguing that humans are indistinct from other animals. We're VERY distinct, and we are VERY powerful. We are as a result of social structuring and communication the apex predator of this world. To quote Jacob Bronowski:

“Man is a singular creature. He has a set of gifts which make him unique among the animals, so that unlike them, he is not a figure in the landscape, he is the shaper of the landscape.”

Genetically, we are VERY similar, yes. But that's to be expected in an intertwined ecosystem [as opposed to a not-intertwined ecosystem? I dunno, it just sounds cooler to add that in]; genetic similarities. But the twig on the branch of the limb of the tree of life that grew into us went a very specific route of development. There weren't many of us, and we weren't entirely strong or fast [though we are rather durable in the long run], so in order to survive we had to work with something else, and our particular species worked with it the best. Other primates had some success but ours had greater success and as such continued to survive and spread and genetically diversify, which bit by bit leads to complexity. We evolved in a very unique environment under very unique circumstances. Survival demanded the development of communication and interaction, and thus after millenia, if not longer, we began to pick up on bits and pieces of the world around us, studied them, and used the environment to our advantages. Our enhanced awareness to each other resulted in our enhanced awareness to our environment, and that is what sets us apart; awareness.

People also like to say, I noticed, that the human brain is very similar to animal brains. Yes, it is, 85% similar in fact to a dog's.

And then we look at Albert Einstein's brain. It was 99.9% similar to all the rest of us yet I get the funny feeling there aren't too many people here that are of a caliber of intellect necessary to do anything he was capable of doing.

Minute differences result in wild differences in the relationship between genetics and the world. We ARE animals; and we are the most advanced, unified, yet divided of them all, too.

Don't be so casual in your dismissal of the human species; that goes for everyone. There's a difference between humility, and scorning the achievements of others.

[Question Mark]

The capacity for increased intelligence is just our evolutionary "thing". It's just what makes us stand out, like cheetahs being the fastest land animals, or the peregrine falcon being the fastest flying bird. If there's a "reason" for us being intelligent, then there must be a reason for other creatures having their traits too.

[paulpablo]

i think the point is that man is only distinct because of two things basically, intelligence and hands that allow tool manipulation.

Because we have a culture of technology which is accumalative then obviously if you look at the technology we evolve it will be massively superior to other animals.

technnology in my opinion is obviously good evidence of how intelligent we are but how much it has accumilated doesnt accurately represent our intelligence, were are all standing on the shoulders of giants, what i mean by that is we have such great technology these days but that isnt because we as a species have a greater intelligence than we used to when we had less technology, we just have better education and already have the existing technology around us to learn from.


People often point out how humans can be charitable and we have such a unique behavior, but if you actually look at the world its pretty much the same as animals, the dominant 5 percent own everything while the rest fight and struggle to live, eat, survive and fuck each other on a day to day basis.

Even though we are obviously unique because of our intelligence and tool making abilities were still prey to the HIV virus and plenty of other viruses out there, we cant even stop ant colonies from spreading and cockroaches both of which have more of a population on earth than humans.

[earmuffs]

Grass. Silicon. Fire.

Without these three things we would be still climbing trees and picking ants out of ant holes with sticks.

It is all about brain size/capacity.
When grass started to mass grow, making large grass plains and such, it forced apemen from the trees simply because the trees were far fewer and far between and so they had to venture out onto the plains to find food.
As such hunched over and with a tail is not ideal and so slowly we evolved to stand on two legs. This was primarily for two reasons, 1st being that it allowed us to look out over the grass for danger and the 2nd being that we could reach up into trees for food.
This is significant because walking upright on two legs uses less effort, not by much but still, then walking on all fours.
Because we use less effort to move around we were consuming more calories (well, the same but less was going to the effort of moving around). The extra calories that were no longer used for movement then went to growth, brain growth.

Silicon is significant because it's soft, you can chips bits off and form crude tools.
Suddenly you have a hammer or knife. You can kill larger prey, more food, more calories, more brain growth. You can make shelter, protecting you from the elements, reducing calories spent protecting you from the elements.

Fire. Fire is the biggy. Without fire, we wouldn't have made it past the stone age.
Cooking things greating increases the amount of calories that food produces. Thus, our brains were able to rapidly grow.
We became very smart.

Grass, again, with our new found intellect we were able to go from foragers, to hunters, to now farmers.
A hunter/gather requires (something around, i can't remember exactly) 10km^2 area in order to survive, where as a farmer requires only a fraction of that.
This means we were able to fit more people on the same amount of land.
Grass is significant here because that is what was grown, wheat and suger and other grass based food.

By now man has ventured across landbridges and migrated around the world.

The difference however is that the Middle East, northern Africa had these grass plants that they could farm. They also had animals easy to domesticate. Goats, cows and such. This is why life skyrocketed in this location where as other cut off locations, such as the Americas, lagged behind.

With all these new foods and requiring far less effort to acquire them and in far smaller space, our brains continued to grow.

Soon small towns/cities were errected across egypt and the middle east.
With small cities comes specalization. Trade. Instead of having to do everything myself, I could focus on being a fantastic pot maker and trade my work for other things I need such as food. This is basic principle of economics today, effeciency.
Soon trade spreading ideas from Egypt to Greek etc... with that comes more growth etc.. etc.. etc..

The rest is history.

[Minimalist]

A similar thread was posted several years ago. I didn't feel typing this out all over again so, thanks to the Divine Tiberius' wonderful SEARCH feature, here is the post.

http://atheistforums.org/thread-3113-pos...l#pid59096

[justin]

Because it worked to our advantage and we had sex. alot of sex. which lead to more variation and more probability of intelligent agents breeding. though i say stupid people out number intelligent people.

[Whateverist]

One thing I've noticed is that only humans fall in the category "us" whereas the rest of the animal kingdom can all be found in the "them" category. Coincidence, or a clear sign of the hand of God?

[Question Mark]

One thing I've noticed is that only humans fall in the category "us" whereas the rest of the animal kingdom can all be found in the "them" category. Coincidence, or a clear sign of the hand of God?

I think it's the third option: Anthrocentrism