What Makes Us Human?

[bmaestro]

This is something I got to thinking about after reading some evolution debates in another forum here. What is that essence that makes us human? do we have some level of higher consciousness than other creatures?

Another thought to ponder: Evolutionary Psychologists (I know, its obscure), say that the enlarged brain was created by sexual selection, that is to say, the brain is an extravagance that was blown out of proportion simply by mate choice ("wow, that dude made a tool, and he can draw shit on the walls...")

Personally i think its this large brain and its capacities for abstraction of everything that makes us human. I mean, we get wrapped up so much in abstractions of reality, (math, economics, to name a couple), and then base our whole culture on it. what do you all think about this?

-b

[Sodfather]

I would agree with you: the huge capacity of the human brain (compared to other organisms) is what differentiates us anatomically. You'll see that brain capacity steadily increased from Austrolopithicus to the Cromagnon all the way up to modern-day man.

Intellectually, it's been said that the differentiating characteristic in humans is the ability to choose. I guess I'd agree with that as well since sub-human animals act purely upon instinct, right?.

[bmaestro]

i'm not sure if we're presented with that much more choice (or ability to make choices) than any other animal, its just that the choices we're faced with are a lot more complex and abstract, because of the complexity and abstraction of the culture and technologies we've surrounded ourselves by.

[RebelWithanAK]

You're human?

[Pooeypants]

I'll say it was the correct sequence of nucleotide chains which makes us human.

[bmaestro]

</span><blockquote><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><hr size="1" />Originally Posted by
You're human? <hr size="1" /></blockquote><span class='postcolor'>
am i? who knows, maybe society and culture, and everything that we identify as human doesn't actually exist, in which case, i can't identify with it anymore. so, in other words, maybe i'm just a bunch of matter that moves around, and ideas and constructs are just lies.

or maybe thats all real, and we all are human, just because we identify with other humans...

</span><blockquote><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><hr size="1" />Originally Posted by
I'm say it was the correct sequence of nucleotide chains which makes us human. <hr size="1" /></blockquote><span class='postcolor'>
but if thats less than 1% different than an ape, even less different from our closest non-human relatives, and theres tons of variation in our genetic pool, how can that define our humanity?

-b

[Sodfather]

</span><blockquote><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><hr size="1" />Originally Posted by (Pooeypants,)
I'm say it was the correct sequence of nucleotide chains which makes us human.<hr size="1" /></blockquote><span class='postcolor'>
Oh man, you're resurfacing headaches from my past biology class. I didn't een retain anything from it. Do nucletides have a connection to Transfer RNA or Messenger RNA? Damn it, I forget...

[Impenitent]

opposable thumbs and written language

[castille]

Isnt it funny. We humans follow like sheep. Dictators thrive because people are eager to follow a revolutionary new doctrine like sheep to the slaughter. Hitler Youth, Red Guards, KGB....

Yet we consider ourselves to be superior to everyone else in some way. We consider ourselves to be individuals, to love life, yet we slaughter others who do not share our opinion. We see ourselves as morally correct, but we often ignore the fact every 2 seconds we are breaking out own morals.

[chicagoastronomer]

Dispite the fact that our brains are more "developed" than the "lower" creatures...we exhibit retarted and underdeveloped mental processes.

There is a theory presented that humankind was created by the "Annunaki" as slave labor, as written by the ancient Sumerians. If so, we are all retarded bastards, and our actions display it proudly.

About as good as any creation/evolutionary theory out there.

[Samildanach]

On a darker note:

Our ability for advanced forms of conflict make us human. No animal can destroy things like we can.

Human is what we are, as we are.. whether it is above or below that of a jackal or ape, is one's opinion. I think the originator of this one is thinking human word is suppose to mean great. Now isn't that a joke..

[Pooeypants]

</span><blockquote><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><hr size="1" />Originally Posted by (makeshiftpatriot,)


but if thats less than 1% different than an ape, even less different from our closest non-human relatives, and theres tons of variation in our genetic pool, how can that define our humanity?

-b<hr size="1" /></blockquote><span class='postcolor'>
And you do realise that 90% of DNA is reckoned to be junk (likely to be artifacts of virus DNA recombinations from our past ancestry) so that figure doesn't really say it all.

Besides, we can't interbreed with any other closely related ape so that kind answers the latter question.

[Pooeypants]

</span><blockquote><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><hr size="1" />Originally Posted by (Sodfather,)
</span><blockquote><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><hr size="1" />Originally Posted by (Pooeypants,)
I'm say it was the correct sequence of nucleotide chains which makes us human.<hr size="1" /></blockquote><span class='postcolor'>
Oh man, you're resurfacing headaches from my past biology class. I didn't een retain anything from it. Do nucletides have a connection to Transfer RNA or Messenger RNA? Damn it, I forget...<hr size="1" /></blockquote><span class='postcolor'>
Nucleotides are the units used to build DNA and RNA, each nucleotide has a phosphate group, a deoxyribose (or ribose) sugar and a nitrogenous base (uracil in RNA instead of Thymine). The sequence in which the nucleotides are in the chain would determine the proteins produced (after transcription and translation) thus it is our blueprint and the key to our humanity. ish

[Impenitent]

nukeleotides are the result of an atomic tsunami

[Sasha]

Being Human cannot simply be a result of a superior intelect as that would result in many "retarted" people being classed as non human. Moreover much of our wisdom is simply what we've been told not what we have actually deducted ourselves.
Although we are a result of our genetics and so that answer is true it is not the whole answer. A large part of what we are is determined by our society. ie the difference between a dog and a wolf has less to do with genetics than with the environment in which they have been raised for decades. Similarily although our genetics (which result in a larger brain) is a large determinate of who and what we are, humans are also the result of a social evolution that has allowed us to take advantage of our physical and genetic traits. A large brain without any concept of how to use it is effectivly no different than not having that brain. We learn how to use our biology from the social structure we find ourselves in.

[DayBaye]

For the DNA question- the main difference genetically between us and the ape is that two of the apes' chromosome pairs fused (a seroious mutation, for anyone who didn't know that). They have 24- we have 23 (pairs, that is). The info is basically the same between the two pairs in the ape and the one pair in the ape, however. This could be a difference.

And who says dolphins or something aren't *smarter* than us?

[Impenitent]

we eat dolphins in our tuna... they are so smart...

[NittLion78]

It all comes down to self-awareness. The "I think, therefore I am" thing (who was that...Descartes?).

Animals are self-aware, but not on the same level as you and I. They, like all life, vainly try to perpetuate their own lives and those of their families into permanence. We all have those sorts of prime directives embedded in us. It's survival-mode, and it's what has gotten us to the nice comfy state we're in now as a civilization.

But we can step back from all that and expand. We can know that we're on a planet that is essentially naught more than a grain of sand on an infinite beach (someone said that once...don't recall). I doubt Fido is concerned about the Mars Rover. He's still wondering where his next meal is coming from.

Animals can't expand on knowledge. Fido learns how to sit, stay, roll over, play dead, and wait until his owner says to eat the biscuit on his nose, but that doesn't mean that future generations of dogs will be able to expand on that into doing the Triple Lutz Jump on skates. Stories can be passed down from human to human, as can other information. Some things can, in theory, live in perpetuity with us de facto.

So is it strictly intelligence and an advanced brain? I'd have to say so.

[Sasha]

If its strictly intellegence and an advanced brain, are those with mental handicaps less human?