What do you think separates humans from other animals?

[Valkraye]

Not much these days. I've seen people say "intelligence" and "emotion", but my cat has an entire household wrapped around his little... paw? The point is, who is really intelligent here?

 

[Batou667]

Animals have language. Have you never heard of Koko? How about the dozens of other primates that we taught sign language to, who can and do use it to communicate to each other and their handlers.

Yeah, I heard of Koko... I also heard that much of the supposed language taking place was just mimicry, ad the findings were blown out of proportion by an over-optomistic media.

But if there are animals out there who are capable of language, it's almost certainly primates.

 

[House_Vet]

Animals have language. Have you never heard of Koko? How about the dozens of other primates that we taught sign language to, who can and do use it to communicate to each other and their handlers.

Yeah, I heard of Koko... I also heard that much of the supposed language taking place was just mimicry, ad the findings were blown out of proportion by an over-optomistic media.

But if there are animals out there who are capable of language, it's almost certainly primates.

Those and cetaceans. Whale song goes through trends - picked up, remixed and sent round the world - distinctly badass.

In a more general reply to the thread, I think there's less of a difference than we'd like to think. It comes down to opposable thumbs, a very useful larynx and a few million years of evolution. They mourn, they rejoice, whales have spindle neurons etc etc.

 

[House_Vet]

2) We are the only species of which the females have fully developed breasts at all times post puberty and not just after having given birth like other animals. Thank you sexual selection.

Not really. They just remain relatively large without retaining the size the attained during a lactation. Sure, they can keep working if demand continues, but that's no different from a dairy cow...

 

[Joccaren]

Outside of this thread : If i may suggest, i'd like both of you, fellow Espcapists, to think about possibilities when discussing alien civilizations. Intelligent life evolving in complete different environment should be capable of producing different science, walk different paths.
They don't have to invest into rocketery and build spaceships, but instead harness the power of teleportation. They may be capable of traveling outside of what we consider time-space and distances may mean nothing for them. Concept of war could be completely "alien" to them and while we kill ourselves over some laughable matters, they could rush into galaxy to plant seeds of life wherever they can just because so. We're products of our history and it is violent, bloody, primitive story full of betrayals, murders - aliens aren't "obliged" to commit our crimes.
My point is : i may be wrong, but you both think about possible aliens as about ourselves, and there's no need to do so.

Also, if i may interest you in this masterpiece : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C5%82os_pana it's one of best studies (at least known to me) regarding possible contact between Mankind and alien civilization. Rather hard to comprehend, there's no action per se, but logic, conclussions makes it worth reading.

I am quite open to aliens being very alien, however it is easiest to refer to them as being similar to use, and in some cases they almost must be. For example, I highly doubt they will have gotten anywhere without some understanding of mathematics. It may not be the same as our understanding, but the basic principles of mathematics would still be somewhat observed. While it might be possible that they have a way of understanding the universe at a more fundamental level not involving mathematics, it is far more likely that they will follow the laws of mathematics in some form or other. Likewise, if sufficiently advanced they would hopefully be able to recognise things such as molecule models when put mathematically. These are a couple of principles that would be used in a first contact message to aliens if we ever find evidence of them, as mathematics transcends language, and molecular structures would be the same the whole universe across. Whilst there is the possibility that an alien would have a different understanding of things, however it is more likely that they would have a similar understanding of such concepts.

Anyway... this is getting off topic and so I'll stop now. (Semi off topic. Discussing differences of species is what this thread is sorta about, and aliens would be a different species...)

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

We think beyond primal urges I guess. I'm not sure if that makes us better though, at least animals are honest with themselves

At the risk of sounding like a crazy cat lady, all of the cat's I've owned seemed to have an individual personality. So I'm not to confident of the whole sentience argument. Some animals seem to be more self aware than others.

 

[LadyTiamat]

Nukes, certainly nukes.

 

[surg3n]

The core difference is intelligence. Humans don't have strength or speed, we needed something else to survive, and that something else is intelligence. Smart cavemen survived and prospered, stupid cavemen died. To say we don't have animal traits would be rediculous, that's why nobody says that - nobody is drawing a line between us and animals then proclaiming ourselves to be somehow better. We are animals, but we are also intelligent beings (most people), and it all stems from our intelligence and thought processes.
Humans are not very efficient creatures, but animals tend to all be efficient at their life - how often do you see an animal make a mistake, unless it's a domesticated retard pet. In the wild, you tend to never see animals trip up - annoy a tiger with a laser pointer, and it won't be LOL's all round, it'll be your liver all round . Evolution is the answer to so many questions about human and animal behaviour. The nature of man almost breaks the theory of evolution though, because our goals are so far removed from mere survival - we advance too quickly for evolution to cope, and that has a snowball effect on other animals but moreover it means that very little governs our own evolution, so we are pretty much at a standstill whereas other animals are still constantly evolving until we get our grubby mitts on them. I mean, our actions interfere with natural evolution - nobody knows what a chicken could have become if it wasn't so convenient and delicious. Personally I'd say that chickens have done more for the good of the planet than humans, maybe it's time to hand over the reins to our fowl overlords.

Humans... Too stupid to live, too clever to die.

Is that a paradox? - I hope so, don't think I've made one before - making a valid paradox is the next evolutionary goal after self awareness. If that is a paradox, then I am officially entitled to laugh at dwarves.

 

[Cazza]

We can ask ourselves this question.

Ape to another ape: "What separates us from humans?"

So

How complex our languages are. Combine that with the technology we created so we can ask this question to people on the otherside of the world.

 

[Frostbyte666]

No offence to any 1 but I see a lot of pretentious people trying to make light of what humans have accomplished and overstate what other animals have. Now don't get me wrong I do believe animals are intelligent, can make use of tools etc etc etc. However they have not used them to truly break free of their environment, they have used tools to help them but not to activly think hey that makes this job easier I wonder what else I can do. People say that animals have displayed the same creativity as humans and the same intelligence, 1 question then, why haven't these animals developed to where we are instead of us after all a lot of the animals have far better natural weaponry and strength, speed etc to beat us in a straight up fight. The answer there was our race didn't accept that and made tools to defend ourselves and from that built more tools to aid us in various tasks to finally come out on top of the food chain.
Also we are the only race that has evolved to our current levels in the entire history of the planet (unless fossil records come up proving different). The dinosaurs were around a hell of a lot longer than us and didn't break away from their place in nature as we did.
Also I'm sorry how this post is starting to ramble so I'll stop there.

 

[Joccaren]

The only thins separating us from them is the fact that animals adopt to the world, and we adopt the world to us, i.e. build roads and cars for faster transportation instead of running on four legs to be faster, or using knives to cut stuff istead of evolving our hand into razor-sharp claws.

There is something you seem to be missing here. Evolution isn't fast. We are still evolving different things. E.G: Longer Fingernails. Wisdom Teeth are slowly disappearing from humans. Cheek bones are becoming thinner. We do evolve these things too, just for the short term we change the world around us more than most.
For example, the beaver will build a dam. It is changing the world around it. Other creatures can change the world around them, but none do to the extent of humans.
Animals also do not evolve that fast that, say we build a fire for the night to keep us warm, they cannot evolve to have fur on them (If they did not already have it) in that night to keep themselves warm. No, it takes millions of years.
Humans, however, also adapt ourselves to the environment, though less now than we previously would have. It is not entirely unusual for people in colder places to grow more facial hair without shaving or having it cut. Why? It helps keep them warm.

In total, a reasonable comparison, but still somewhat flawed. Humans do evolve and change ourselves to match our environment (Hell, it was one of the reasons we became the dominant species. Back in the caveman days we lived in almost every condition on this planet, and we did not have the tools to survive comfortably in all of them. We slowly developed to better suit these environments in our earlier days, though now we do not notice evolution as much as we do when we look back), and some animals do change their environment to better suit them.

PERIOD. EVERYONE WHO DISAGREES IS A RETARD. AND EVERYONE WHO QUOTES THIS & THE PREVIOUS & FOLLOWING SENTENCES & FOLLOWS WITH A RANT/MAKES A SARCASTIC COMMENT IS ALSO A RETARD. BONUS POINTS FOR ONLY QUOTING THE FIRST ALL CAPS SENTENCE AND DISREGARDING THE REST. GET TO WORK INTERNET RETARDS!

I sure as hell hope that was sarcasm.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I say it's vast intelligences and creativity. Yes animals like Dolphin and Chimpazee are intelligent and other annimal can built stuff but it's not like they can communicate us at a sophisticated level nor can they created anything complex like let say a car run on petrol.

 

[Introspector]

Chomsky said that the only thing that seperates human communication from an animnals is recursion, which is where you embedd one sentence within another (like i have done here). Although i think our ability to talk about abstract concepts, times, places etc. and the level of meaning we can derive from anything is quite distinctive.
On a wider note, the human ability to make random leaps;
Religion- o the sky: a big man must have put that there long before everything existed (if i may over simplify),
Science- well, its tiny atoms, made of tinier particles that can be waves (another simplification)
all of our tools- a monkey may jab an ants nest with a stick, but he didnt dig some rock out of the ground, melt it, reshape it and build a furniture set to eat the ants from with it.
the list goes on.

 

[Joccaren]

People say that animals have displayed the same creativity as humans and the same intelligence, 1 question then, why haven't these animals developed to where we are instead of us after all a lot of the animals have far better natural weaponry and strength, speed etc to beat us in a straight up fight.

Simple, they didn't have some of the physical capabilities we have, nor the social ones. Language is a powerful tool that separates us from animals, and would have allowed technological changes to spread far faster.
One of our physical advantages is our opposable thumbs. Say an otter, who uses a rock to smash open nuts to eat them, wants to make and wield a spear like man did. Can it? No. It does not have the opposable thumbs required, nor does it necessarily have the need.

You forget, we have actually been around longer than the dinosaurs in some form or other. We evolved from things too. If the dinosaurs had not been wiped out, whose to say the wouldn't have evolved into a creature with the ability to make tools. In their forms at that time, and in our forms at that time, making and using tools was impractical , except in some small scale cases. We eventually evolved to have things like opposable thumbs, and thus tools became advantageous to us.

Some animals are quite creative and intelligent, however the generally don't have the physical advantage we have to be able to make tools and effectively utilise them. Whilst we are the only species with complex tools, we are also one of the few species who would get an advantage out of using them. (E.G: A dolphin would get no advantage out of almost any of our tools, and would have no way to develop those of our tools that would benefit it).

 

[Jedamethis]

I'm not sure of the right words, but I can't think of another animal that would live in some of the most inhospitable places in the world out of choice.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

We kill each other and other species for fun and giggles. Other species don't.

Yes they do: cats kill mice, play with the body and then leave it to rot. Another example: wolves. Do you know why wolves are hated and feared by sheperds? Wolves, when they hunt sheep, don't just kill one or two (just enough to eat) but as far as 20 or 30. Why? cause there's so many that they can't stop and don't care if one is enough.

Cats actually play with the body first and then kill it.

My point still stands. They kill for fun (or out of boredom) since in the end they don't eat the mouse.

I said fun and giggles. They might do it for fun, but no way are they doing it for giggles. Because they can't giggle. So my point stands as well.

 

[shadowsandwich]

Thumbs its all about the thumbs

 

[Joccaren]

I say it's vast intelligences and creativity. Yes animals like Dolphin and Chimpazee are intelligent and other annimal can built stuff but it's not like they can communicate us at a sophisticated level nor can they created anything complex like let say a car run on petrol.

To be fair, Dolphins can communicate quite well. We can't understand it, and thus we do not know the specifics of how well they can communicate, but it isn't bad. Dolphins, however, have no way to be able to make something as simple as a spear though. Even if we taught them how to construct an oil fuelled car, they would be physically unable to.
Chimpanzees are a special case. They could probably construct a car if we taught them how to, however it is unlikely they could conceive the idea on their own. Human forward thinking power is quite good, and is what lets us make our technological bounds the fastest. Chimpanzees, when taught, however, are able to do some basic pilot work and such. They are intelligent, they just lack the forward thinking capacity to make the leaps and bounds humans have.

 

[Joccaren]

I'm not sure of the right words, but I can't think of another animal that would live in some of the most inhospitable places in the world out of choice.

Penguins live in the Antarctic, Deserts are teeming with life. There are creatures adapted to living in the most hostile of environments, and then there are things like Bacteria that can even survive in space.
Humans are unique in how we originally adapted to live in almost every condition on earth, and then adapted those conditions to better suit ourselves once we gained the ability to do so, yes, but there are some animals that do live in the harshest of environments.

 

[Sarah Frazier]

There are quite a few subtle differences between humans and animals besides walking upright, religion, and technology past the use of sticks and stones.

Animals socialize in their own way as a means of making friends, appeasing a superior, or trying to establish themselves as superior to others. Humans simply have more ways of doing the same and have multiple meanings to the same gestures and use them, in some cases, to fool others to be taken advantage of.

Animals have their own forms of politics, at least with those who live in organized groups. An alpha who fails to lead and protect their group well will be overthrown or find that they have less of a pack following them. Compare that to human politics where money and manipulation can get someone to the top spot instead of actual leading skill.

Animals make war, or at least small scale battles. Even coral, which counts as an animal, can wage war with its own species just because some other colony is different. Humans have managed to perfect large-scale war with the use of science and technology, but the founding reasons remain... They're different, so we don't like them.
Coral reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjHqnYNHSVg

Ignoring or even intentionally going against gut instincts seem to be more of a human thing since wild animals who do it would die to predators, poisons, or some other end that would keep them from passing the trait on to their young. Religion is also a human thing, but who's to say that animals wouldn't come up with something if they were in our place?