What makes humans special?

[Tab]

This is just a basic GD observation, not related to any specific article or anything.

People have long had deliberations about what makes the human species special. Usually it has focused on intelligence, and to a lesser degree, language. Also emotions, etc.

Experience has shown that many animals experience feelings - certainly if you've had the honor of taking care of anything from a dog to a horse, you know this. I can't speak for fish.

We've also known that animals can learn - from birds (crows are particularly good) - to dolphins. In fact, dolphins (and a close second, whales) are particularly intelligent. Whales are a little harder to study, because... well, it's a whale.

We also have long known that they can communicate - birds sing, dogs bark, whales sing, and many more, and in fact, if you take care of one of these (maybe not the whale) you can distinguish certain sounds and tell when there's a warning, distress, a fight, or contentment.

Some animals can invent solutions to their problems. This has particularly been observed in birds and monkeys.

What might be the difference - and, sadly, the observation came watching a morning talk show - is that we have discussions. We discuss (or try to) our differences, our situations, and how to get out of them. I'm not aware of any non-human creatures doing this. They all seem to be in the immediacy of the moment. I think this is what sets us apart, more than brain power. That said, I don't actually know what dolphins talk about, so maybe they do discuss whatever it is, but one would assume a result of discussion would be some sort of organization, to agree to do something as a group, but I haven't really seen that.

Anyway, for the hell of it, any thoughts?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. As a species we're a flash in the pan with an uncertain future.

Whereas, the lowly sponge has been around for 650,000,000,000 years.

Evolution has no direction.

[randome]

10. Yet we've moved forward a million times faster than the sponge.

We rule the planet, for good or ill.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]All things in moderation, including moderation.[/center][/font][hr]

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

17. Do you think humans will outlive sponges?

Having a big brain gives us the ability to think (and brag) that we are the pinnacle of evolution But, not much more in terms of evolution.

[NeoGreen]

29. So far...

...but the rabbit still lost the race.

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. Large brains (for our body size and compared to other mammals), and language

also, walking upright (most apes don't; H sapiens is the only ape species skeletally adapted for bipedalism).

Walking on two legs meant getting down from the trees and fundamentally altered the way our ancestors perceived the world (having a higher line of sight) and led to the development of tools and weapons (things like spears and bows for hunting). Large brains gave our ancestors the capacity to figure out how to chip a flint into a point for a spear tip or arrowhead,how to cut a branch and string it with gut for a bow, and, eventually, how to harvest seeds and plant them, and how to tame and breed horses and sheep and oxen. And language enabled us to share the knowledge of how to do all those things and pass it on to future generations.

[Tab]

3. Well, giraffes certainly have a higher line of sight than we

but that doesn't seem to have made the difference with them.

I acknowledge that non-humans can learn, and can pass those on to others. We've seen that.

But the element I don't see among non-humans is general discussion. Even among humans, often it's crap, but at least I see it.

[Spider Jerusalem]

5. Giraffes have tiny brains, in comparison, no language, and lack thumbs (and don't walk upright)

And non-humans can't pass on knowledge to subsequent generations (or even to members of their species outside their immediate group).

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Nope. Not according to current research

We have culture among other simians already observed for example bonobos. So that's starting to fall apart

[MowCowWhoHow III]

4. Recording knowledge

[hifiguy]

6. Reflexive consciousness

and the ability to retain and transmit information through abstract systems like language.

[eShirl]

7. We tell stories.

[Crunchy Frog]

18. That's my opinion too.

We exist and interact within elaborate narrative constructs. That's probably why our lives are so much more complicated than those of other animals.

[surrealAmerican]

27. ... and they don't even have to be true.

Bees can tell one another where to find the flowers, but they don't invent a narrative.

[tabasco]

8. A difference in degree of intelligence.

That is all. Other animals think, solve problems, have emotions, and deserve a decent habitat, as do humans. Unfortunately, human animals have reproduced like rats and are devastating the biosphere.

[randome]

9. Creativity.

We are so fucking creative, we've covered the planet with our cities and roads. Maybe that's not always a good thing but it's 'natural' in the sense that we now have the intelligence due to evolution to guide that creativity in various directions.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]All things in moderation, including moderation.[/center][/font][hr]

[The2ndWheel]

11. Because we say so?

Who else is going to say it?

We created the lines that make the letters and definitions to the words. It's not really all that objective. It's like the winners writing history. Or because the Bible says so. Or your mom saying you're so smart and handsome.

We're special because we say we're special. Anything we would list to prove it is just a list of stuff that we say makes us special. Shockingly, we come out on top of every list.

[randome]

14. Good point. Do dolphins have the capability of thinking they're special? Not that we know.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]All things in moderation, including moderation.[/center][/font][hr]

[Action_Patrol]

12. Opposable Thumbs.

[bemildred]

13. Nothing, we are not special, and we better get used to it too. nt

[el_bryanto]

15. THe problem with saying Art is that it's a circular thing

I can point to the paintings of Van Gogh or the blues of Billie Holiday or the comedy of Groucho Marx and say that nothing in the animal kingdom comes close to affecting me on the same level as then; but how do I know that the howls of a wolf or the songs of a canary are just as meaningful in those kingdoms.

But i'm still saying Art.

Bryant

[IDemo]

16. Whales have been studied quite extensively along with other cetaceans

They have been shown to possess advanced communication abilities including different regional accents, and have intricate social networks rivaling humans.

Read : 'Voices In the Ocean' by Susan Casey for a terrific exploration of these creatures and of their interactions with humans.

http://www.npr.org/books/titles/429307304/voices-in-the-ocean-a-journey-into-the-wild-and-haunting-world-of-dolphins

[Donkees]

19. Humans create "meaning"?

[Whiskeytide]

20. A sense of reason that can (at least in theory) overrule ...

... instinct at times. All of the above answers are excellent. Perhaps it's a combination of them all - i.e., simply good fortune in being the right species at the right time???

[hobbit709]

21. In relation to the general universe-not a damn thing.

[lumberjack_jeff]

23. Dogs... and thumbs.

Dogs with thumbs! Yeah, that's the ticket!

[VOX]

24. We perceive our own existence: we "know that we know"

That capacity has driven humankind to great accomplishments, but also into frank insanity on countless occasions. By "knowing that we know," humans tend to perceive their own mortality as some sort of affront, and thus developed myths and religions, something to explain and lessen the sting of that limited time allotment. Humans have, at the very least, some rudimentary idea that they're part of some vast, universal process, something greater -- even if that "something greater" is an awesome randomness. Humans can look up at the stars, or at a vast ocean, and ask..."Why?" "How did I get here, and where am I going?" "What is all this?" And the inevitable: "How long do I have?"

[Tab]

25. Yes, but I'm curious

who thinks discussion might be the major factor? Other animals have opposable thumbs, or comunication abilities (which I think is a given for certain species, if not all the "intelligent" ones, but does any "discuss" their situation and how to get around it?

[clarice]

26. They don't shrink much when you cook em'. nt

[NeoGreen]

28. The capacity for expressed introspection? (nt)

[Warpy]

30. Humans can visualize the future

It's our great strength and often our curse.

Other creatures are sensible enough to live in the moment.

[NobodyHere]

31. Humans can write and perform guitar solos

Ever hear a whale perform a guitar solo? It sounds terrible.

[aikoaiko]

32. Grammar -- a truly unique human behavior.

[Yo_Mama]

33. Culture is what makes us unique as a species on earth - I think you are right.

It is true that there are rudimentary cultures among social animals - groups of fisher baboons, for example.

But the quantitative difference between those cultures and are own is so vast that the "discussion" does make us unique. Culture controls the lives of our species far more than it does any other species that we have encountered.

That ability to discuss gives us the ability to cooperate in huge groups in huge enterprises in incredibly adaptative ways. That's what makes us different.

It is also what provides free-speech democracy's advantage versus other forms of government - without the ability to discuss ideas, the adaptive functions of our ability to cooperate are largely nullified.

[Nancyswidower]

34. Reasoning....period

"Anyway, for the hell of it, any thoughts?"......can you ask that of any other species and get an answer...or a thought?

[2naSalit]

35. Our proven ability

to destroy all other life on the planet while denying that we are doing so... to our own demise in the end.

[Rex]

36. Thumbs.

[Warren DeMontague]

37. symbolic reasoning.

[Arugula Latte]

38. We invented the banana peeler.

Other than that, I've got nuthin.

[Odin2005]

39. Social learning and language

If you could watch a troop of chimps cracking nuts with rocks, you would see that none of the adults are actively teaching the young chimps how to crack nuts, the young learn by just imitating their parents. Chimps do not have social learning, unlike us there is no active transmission of ideas from individual to individual.

And this ties in with language, since language makes sharing abstract concepts, and talking about things that are not immediately visible, possible.

[MisterP]

40. academics and cartoons

[Act_of_Reparation]

41. Let's clarify a few things.

Experience has shown that many animals experience feelings

Experience shows "experience shows" is a bad way to start a scientific discussion. Experience doesn't show us anything; cold, hard, objective data does.

And the data shows us many animals present behaviors at least superficially similar to humans' outward displays of feelings. Unfortunately, animals do not have language and cannot communicate, beyond doubt, what, if anything they are feeling. What does an elephant "feel" when it cries? Why does it cry? We just don't know.

We've also known that animals can learn - from birds (crows are particularly good) - to dolphins. In fact, dolphins (and a close second, whales) are particularly intelligent. Whales are a little harder to study, because... well, it's a whale.

This, too, is problematic.

When a human "learns", he or she organizes knowledge and experience in a predictive manner. I touch a hot stove, I get burned, I know touching a hot stove will result in burning.

Do animals do this? Again, it's hard to tell. Many animals "learn" through conditioning, through associating reward/punishment with particular stimuli. Pavlov got dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell, but the reaction is so autonomic one could hardly call it "learning" in the strictest sense of the word.

We also have long known that they can communicate - birds sing, dogs bark, whales sing, and many more, and in fact, if you take care of one of these (maybe not the whale) you can distinguish certain sounds and tell when there's a warning, distress, a fight, or contentment.

Yes, animals communicate. So do bacteria.

But they don't communicate like humans communicate. They don't have language in any sense of the word.

Some animals can invent solutions to their problems. This has particularly been observed in birds and monkeys.

Be warned against confusing cleverness with intelligence. A chimp can stuff a twig into a termite mound, but that doesn't mean he's invited Fun-Dip for chimps. He didn't plan it out; he simply stuck a stick in the ground one day and, lo, what a happy surprise.

Anyway, for the hell of it, any thoughts?

We have the ability to reason, to think in the abstract, to make accurate predictions based on repeated observation and testing, and, perhaps most importantly, consciously regulate our behavior.