What do you think separates humans from other animals?

[Blunderboy]

"Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals... except the weasel."
Homer Simpson

I?m also going to go with an inflated sense of self worth.

 

[Subbies]

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.

 

[Joccaren]

- We're pretty close to sailing into space. We reached this technological advancement across thousands of years which, compared to the age of universe is more or less "blink of an eye". Billions of billions other civilizations could evolve prior to our own, however universe is silent. We're listening but there's no answer, no sign of intelligent life anywhere. So either we're alone or natural flow of life isn't about going into space. Either way we're unnatural in what we do.

-A fair period of those billions of years would have been entirely inhospitable. The universe can currently support life, but it was not always so.
-Simply because we haven't found anything yet does not mean the overwhelming majority of the universe's life isn't heading down the path of 'To Space!'. It just means that out of the minuscule part of the universe that we can see, we have not detected any signs of life. Hell, even in some of the places we have thoroughly checked for communications from there could be a beacon or something transmitting right now. Thing is, we won't know about it until years later due to the limited speed of light.

 

[teebeeohh]

so you are telling me i am an animal because i don't have religion?

i would say art.
at the point we spend energy and creativity on make things pretty instead of making them practical and more useful(painting stuff on cave walls instead of making more/better spears) we became human.
that combined with the level of intelligence we are capable of using(yes, some animals use tools and recognize themselves in the mirror WE BUILD THE FUCKING LHC, totally different levels)

 

[Subbies]

We don't have something that animals don't. We have the same, it's just that we have MORE of certain things and LESS of others. We are smarter, have more tools, are capable of projecting ourselves farther in the future, have a more developped language, more creativaty. Anything that implies the use of our brain is better than whatever animals can come up with. But on the other hand we have less fur, no claws, less stregth (in certain cases), etc. Get the picture?

We've done in just 200 years what the animal kingdom didn't even attempt to do in over 200 million years. Think about that for a second. The animal kingdom has had hundreds of millions of years to figure this shit out. They've had millions of different species to try with, and all the time in the world. We show up and go from living in stone buildings to landing on the motherfucking moon in just a couple hundred years. If that isn't proof that we're more creative and more intelligent than animals for you then you're a lost cause and it isn't worth even trying to open your mind a bit.

I guess you didn't fully understand me. I didn't say that animals are as creative as us, I said that animals are ALSO creative but not as much as humans. If you reread my post you'll see that what I've been saying is that the statement saying that "humans have something that animals lack" is wrong. We have the same mental faculties, it's just that ours are more developped. You've said it yourself: "we are more creative", this implies that animals are also creative

 

[Joccaren]

A lot of you guys are saying things about intelligence, culture, empathy and things like that, but fundamentally it all comes down to the same thing.

Humans have the largest brain, proportionate to their body, of any organism on the planet. This allows us to communicate in more complex ways, solve problems with more creativity/success and theorize on matters which do not necessarily affect us in a direct way.

Other animals are incapable of performing at the same standard of these activities as we are, but are specialised in other ways, usually with increased sensory development e.g. a dog's nose, an eagle's sight and a bat's echo location.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_animal_has_the_biggest_brain_in_proportion_with_its_body

Please note that we do not have the largest brain to body ratio. In addition, a larger brain does not mean more intelligence. The argument there is invalid. Our brain's size has nothing to do with how intelligent we are, otherwise things like elephants and such with larger brains are far more intelligent than us, which I highly doubt. No, it is the way in which our brains have developed that has lead us to all these things that are different from the animal kingdom, and all those things have influenced how our brain has developed. It is as much the fault of us as the fault of our brain that we are the way we are today.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

I don't want to say "soul" because I don't think everyone believes in one, but, personally, that is one to me.

I'm going to have to go with the ability to stray from instinct and making certain decisions based on critical thinking.

Is this one of those "Dogs don't go to heaven" things?

Because I disagree strongly

 

[Subbies]

so you are telling me i am an animal because i don't have religion?

i would say art.
at the point we spend energy and creativity on make things pretty instead of making them practical and more useful(painting stuff on cave walls instead of making more/better spears) we became human.
that combined with the level of intelligence we are capable of using(yes, some animals use tools and recognize themselves in the mirror WE BUILD THE FUCKING LHC, totally different levels)

I wouldn't say so for art. Some birds (I forgot the name) build structures whose only use is being pretty. They're useless as nests and offer no camouflage and they're buildt on the ground, easy acces for predators. Their only redeeming feature is that they're pretty. These structures are used for seduction so it means that some birds have an aesthetic sense which implies a sort of art.

 

[oooooooooooooooooooooooooo]

The capacity for rationality. Mind you, I don't think its a quality that makes us superior, just different.

 

[Merkavar]

i dont think there is anything that seperates us from animals. things like religion are more like extra stuff for humans not really a seperatng factor.

and most other things i can think of that might seperate us like tools etc i seem to be able to find and exampleof animals doing the same things.

We have guns. They do not. We can communicate how to build and use guns. They can not.

 

[Benni88]

A lot of you guys are saying things about intelligence, culture, empathy and things like that, but fundamentally it all comes down to the same thing.

Humans have the largest brain, proportionate to their body, of any organism on the planet. This allows us to communicate in more complex ways, solve problems with more creativity/success and theorize on matters which do not necessarily affect us in a direct way.

Other animals are incapable of performing at the same standard of these activities as we are, but are specialised in other ways, usually with increased sensory development e.g. a dog's nose, an eagle's sight and a bat's echo location.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_animal_has_the_biggest_brain_in_proportion_with_its_body

Please note that we do not have the largest brain to body ratio. In addition, a larger brain does not mean more intelligence. The argument there is invalid. Our brain's size has nothing to do with how intelligent we are, otherwise things like elephants and such with larger brains are far more intelligent than us, which I highly doubt. No, it is the way in which our brains have developed that has lead us to all these things that are different from the animal kingdom, and all those things have influenced how our brain has developed. It is as much the fault of us as the fault of our brain that we are the way we are today.

Alright, I will gladly retract the brain proportion thing, AND agree that it is the way in which the brain has been allowed to develop with marks us apart, but that really doesn't make the argument invalid. The brain IS the defining difference between us and other animal species, and the way in which it separates us is as I described it.

 

[Subbies]

thuuuuuuuuumbs.

Also greed.

If our superiority was only due to our opposable thumbs, then crabs would be the rulers of the Earth.

 

[Subbies]

Thank you sir, you just made my day.

 

[teebeeohh]

so you are telling me i am an animal because i don't have religion?

i would say art.
at the point we spend energy and creativity on make things pretty instead of making them practical and more useful(painting stuff on cave walls instead of making more/better spears) we became human.
that combined with the level of intelligence we are capable of using(yes, some animals use tools and recognize themselves in the mirror WE BUILD THE FUCKING LHC, totally different levels)

I wouldn't say so for art. Some birds (I forgot the name) build structures whose only use is being pretty. They're useless as nests and offer no camouflage and they're buildt on the ground, easy acces for predators. Their only redeeming feature is that they're pretty. These structures are used for seduction so it means that some birds have an aesthetic sense which implies a sort of art.

but when used for seduction they have purpose other than being pretty, right?

 

[Khada]

A developed neo-cortex, the a depressing number of people don't utilize lol.

 

[The_Emperor]

we are smarter, that is all.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

The belief that we're separate from other animals?

/snarksnarksnark

 

[Ranorak]

What makes you think something does separate us?

Sure we can do some stuff slightly better then the average animal.
But in the end we rely on food shelter and sex just as much.

 

[Subbies]

so you are telling me i am an animal because i don't have religion?

i would say art.
at the point we spend energy and creativity on make things pretty instead of making them practical and more useful(painting stuff on cave walls instead of making more/better spears) we became human.
that combined with the level of intelligence we are capable of using(yes, some animals use tools and recognize themselves in the mirror WE BUILD THE FUCKING LHC, totally different levels)

I wouldn't say so for art. Some birds (I forgot the name) build structures whose only use is being pretty. They're useless as nests and offer no camouflage and they're buildt on the ground, easy acces for predators. Their only redeeming feature is that they're pretty. These structures are used for seduction so it means that some birds have an aesthetic sense which implies a sort of art.

but when used for seduction they have purpose other than being pretty, right?

The selection criterea is "who has the prettiest sculputre". Even if it is used for seduction it still is art. Haven't you ever drawn a pretty picture in hope that the somebody you destined it for takes notice?

 

[KnightOfHearts]

Their not inclined to kill other animals simply because they want to?
Maybe?