What separates us (Homo Sapiens) from the animals?

[Philosophy Explorer]

As a note, my best threads are in science so you'll see a bunch of those.

Is it being able to decide from more than two choices? Our ability to think abstractly? The way our hands are structured to better handle tools? The ability to talk? Is it our ability to love?

What have you to say about all of this (and more)?

PhilX

[The Voice of Time]

I'll think you'll find that asking questions like those are never gonna give satisfying answers, because you could only LIST the changes, and the changes are seemingly endlessly many.

People who waste time contemplating such questions pretty much exclusively focus on some thought that has randomly or through obsession struck their minds.

Who gives a fuck, the answer is useless whatever tiny answer you give. Ask "what is our difference in DNA" and you'll get that answer. Ask "what is our difference in shape", and you'll get that answer, both also potentially quite large and listed answers, and then you've barely scratched the surface of the complexity of reality.

Don't waste time on such metaphysics. And speaking of metaphysics: this belongs in the metaphysics section, is my opinion.

[HexHammer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY_6ITSH8G8

Koko Gorilla, see this doc and get a bit smarter.

[uwot]

Mr. Hammer.

[Skip]

What separates us (Homo Sapiens) from the animals?

Why do you assume that anything does separate us from other animals? From whose pov?
When aliens land on Earth, they will probably be able to tell the dominant species apart from all of the others by our habit of wearing artificial extra skins and manipulating mechanical devices. Or possibly from the fact that everything else on the planet has been sacrificed to service our peculiar requirements. (Then again, they themselves may be aquatic or aerial, in which case they will make contact with the local life form most like themselves.)

From the other animals' pov, it's that we are the scariest and most destructive. (But a few other species appreciate our ability to open [superfluous] doors and [serendipitous] tin cans.)

Possible factors to consider:

Is it being able to decide from more than two choices?

I don't see it demonstrated that other species don't or can't do this. At least in environments that were not specifically engineered by us to study their behaviour.

Our ability to think abstractly?

Depending on what you consider abstract thought, we are unlikely to be unique in this.

The way our hands are structured to better handle tools?

Apes, monkeys, raccoons, rats, squirrels, groundhogs....

The ability to talk?

Everybody talks - communicates - some way. Well, maybe not nematodes, but try to get a cricket to shut up.

Is it our ability to love?

We not only don't have a monopoly on love, we are far better at talking about it than doing it right, while a dog gets it right every time and doesn't think it needs talking about.

What have you to say about all of this (and more)?

All of our traits have developed from precedents on the evolutionary tree shared by every other concurrently extant species; it stands to reason that our attributes would therefore fit somewhere along a scale of degree and quality, rather than differences in kind.
If there is one proclivity unique to humans, I would say it's ambition. More accurately a universal characteristic that humans have raised to a level where it becomes a whole new trait of hubris.
We are the only species that strives to subdue and dominate and exploit everything we encounter.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

Nice post skip. Couldn't have said it better myself.

[jackles]

the brain understanding its own consciousness.thats the only differents of any real importants.but its the exact same consciousness cos there is only one consciousness.

[Blaggard]

Nothing as we are animals, odd question?

[Melchior]

As a note, my best threads are in science so you'll see a bunch of those.

Is it being able to decide from more than two choices? Our ability to think abstractly? The way our hands are structured to better handle tools? The ability to talk? Is it our ability to love?

What have you to say about all of this (and more)?

PhilX

Leicas and Audis.

[cladking]

There are some great answers but the biggest thing that separates humans from animals is language.

All animals have a natural language geared to the way their brains work and they not only communicate within their species but there's a lot of communication between species. Human natural language died a sudden death 4000 years ago and a new language with a new perspective took its place.

Humans really are the odd man out.

Animals all have a natural science founded on the logic of language and observation. When we lost our natural language we had to invent a new science founded on experiment and observation. Where animals are natural scientists, humans must be taught and it's only the language of science that has made human progress possible for the last 500+ years. It was complex language which led to the invention of agriculture and cities. It's always been complex language that defines what humanity is and allows progress but our natural language was metaphysical and became too complex for the average man to use.

We lost our past and 40,000 years of scientific progress. We lost our ability to "blend in" with nature.

[cladking]

d

[HexHammer]

What separates us (Homo Sapiens) from the animals?

Animals doesn't ask stupid questions!

[Blaggard]

Nothing at all except the humans hubris. We are barely evolved apes, we got lucky developed tools and language, but as far as species go we are animals, plain and simple.

As I said before I am not sure how much more simple it gets than this though:

"you and me baby aren't nothing but mammals, so let's do it like they do on the discovery channel."

Fun Loving Criminals. Wise words indeed.

One only has to look at human history to see how much of an animal we are, or in fact how that would give animals a bad name. We have our heirs and our graces, but we are little more than apes and probably less. Matter of perspective, other species have out evolved us. Even the bacteria are more fecund than us, and probably more useful...

An alien looking down on Earth would probably say, that there are far more successful life forms than us, measured in expediency. Perhaps they might also say in that regard, we are mostly harmless, or mostly not worth their time to establish contact with.

[Philosophy Explorer]

Blaggard said:

"One only has to look at human history to see how much of an animal we are, or in fact how that would give animals a bad name. We have our heirs and our graces, but we are little more than apes and probably less. Matter of perspective, other species have out evolved us. Even the bacteria are more fecund than us, and probably more useful...."

If so, then why don't we find humans in cages?

PhilX

[HexHammer]

If so, then why don't we find humans in cages?

LOL! ..again this cluelessness, just look at prisons!