On the nature of humanity

[VijchtiDoodah]

You'll notice I never once argued that humans were superior to animals, only different.  But you're so busy telling me that humans are nothing that you've missed my entire point.

My mistake.  I thought you were looking for a meaningful answer.

[Blue-ninja]

So you're saying that the lives of humans are supposed to be meaningful?

Because, on my principles, I don't believe in that, even though I am a Christian.

[frogboy]

You'll notice I never once argued that humans were superior to animals, only different.  But you're so busy telling me that humans are nothing that you've missed my entire point.

You're arguing semantics. Many of the things you mentioned - intelligence, culture, conscience, are appreciated by humans and aim to show our superiority over other animals.

[{LAW} Gamer_2k4]

You'll notice I never once argued that humans were superior to animals, only different.  But you're so busy telling me that humans are nothing that you've missed my entire point.

My mistake.  I thought you were looking for a meaningful answer.

So the only meaning to you is that nothing has meaning?  Everyone knows that in a universe as large as ours, individual actions and thoughts mean nothing.  Clearly this topic (and really, any other one) is local to our planet.  Playing the "big picture" card just makes you a troll.

You'll notice I never once argued that humans were superior to animals, only different.  But you're so busy telling me that humans are nothing that you've missed my entire point.

You're arguing semantics. Many of the things you mentioned - intelligence, culture, conscience, are appreciated by humans and aim to show our superiority over other animals.

Not really.  But you've brought up another aspect of humanity: We desire superiority.  Yes, intelligence and the rest are generally considered to be superior qualities by the human race, but I'm trying to avoid the issue of superiority here.  That's why my initial post asked "how are we different," not "how are we better."

The fact that you believe my using "different" instead of "superior" is semantic in nature underlines that aspect of humanity.  But, as Vijchti said, in the cosmic sense, very little matters.  We happen to be sharing a speck in a galaxy with other forms of life.  Why is there distinction between humans, plants, and animals? Is it merely a product of a human superiority complex?

The differences don't have to be meaningful, either.  Maybe murder is only illegal because we can relate to the victim, in which case we're no better than animals (who tend to not kill their own kind).  Maybe, on the other hand, murder is illegal because we recognize the impact it has on others - the emotional impact of losing a family member, the industrial impact of losing a worker, the economical impact of losing a consumer, the tactical impact of losing a soldier.  That's the sort of difference that I'm looking for - animals don't kill because they're of the same type, while humans don't kill because we realize the long term effects of such an action.

You could call that a difference in cognition, or you could say that it's simply an evolutionary tool to prolong the survival of our race (again negating the difference).  This discussion is very open to opinion, and I'm trying to remain unbiased about it.

[KorrupT MerC]

Not really.  But you've brought up another aspect of humanity: We desire superiority.

That makes us no better than animals, mostly males like to be superior to other males, testosterone is to blame, females, its just began to become a growing trend* (in younger girls, older women still dont seem to care if they are superior). Animals, when it comes to males, there is always an 'alpha male', one who dominates all the other males, by fighting each other. So wanting to be superior is not just a human trait, its a trait shared by all animals as well.

*From my observations in america

And yes, those things you mentioned, culture, conscience, common sense... they all derive from higher intelligence, its all centered around it. So if we didnt have such high intelligence, we'd lack such things as culture and conscience and be exactly like animals.