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The difference between modern humans and other animals, even extinct humans, is not the presence of intelligence, it is language. Just compared to other extinc

The difference between modern humans and other animals, even extinct humans, is not the presence of intelligence, it is language. Just compared to other extinct humans, we are more social and more violent. I believe what makes humans different is this: language and music and religion. This makes humans something bigger than just the individual. See: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4947341/#!po=0.847458 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4947341/#!po=0....

simonh 4y ago
Indeed there are conceptual and communications skills we possess that no animals approach. The problem I find in these debates is that we each have different ideas what terms like intelligence, understanding and consciousness mean. Consciousness is particularly difficult because we use it in so many different ways. If you look in most dictionaries you will see about half a dozen different definitions ranging from meanings equivalent to perception, all the way up to awareness of ones self and the world, or self-reflection. Personally I see no reason to suppose that the capacity for self-reflection depends on the cognitive skills underlying language, rather it seems to me it's likely to be the other way around. If this is correct, then I expect our ancestors evolved self-reflection before language, and therefore other animals might also have developed that capability without having language in the sophisticated form we possess. Viewed in this way, if animals, particularly higher mammals and primates exhibit behaviour consistent with self-reflection and self-awareness, it seems reasonable to me that they may have inherited this capacity from a common ancestor of ours. That's especially so if many different species exhibit this trait. It seems unlikely that such behaviours would evolve completely independently in so many different species that are all related to each other and share so many common neurological features.
- prometheus76 4y ago
  The other very strange aspect of consciousness is that the only way we have of experiencing consciousness is through our own consciousness. The recursive nature of trying to reflect on consciousness while using our consciousness to do so ends up having some very weird effects. The book, I Am A Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter is what got me thinking about this problem.
tdehnel 4y ago
Not surprising that a “lynguist” would think this. But it’s wrong. Animals can communicate with language (whales, chimps, etc etc). The thing that makes humans special is their ability to create and use explanatory knowledge. That’s why humans and no other animals have had an enlightenment or scientific revolution.

simonh 4y ago

Indeed there are conceptual and communications skills we possess that no animals approach. The problem I find in these debates is that we each have different ideas what terms like intelligence, understanding and consciousness mean. Consciousness is particularly difficult because we use it in so many different ways. If you look in most dictionaries you will see about half a dozen different definitions ranging from meanings equivalent to perception, all the way up to awareness of ones self and the world, or self-reflection. Personally I see no reason to suppose that the capacity for self-reflection depends on the cognitive skills underlying language, rather it seems to me it's likely to be the other way around. If this is correct, then I expect our ancestors evolved self-reflection before language, and therefore other animals might also have developed that capability without having language in the sophisticated form we possess. Viewed in this way, if animals, particularly higher mammals and primates exhibit behaviour consistent with self-reflection and self-awareness, it seems reasonable to me that they may have inherited this capacity from a common ancestor of ours. That's especially so if many different species exhibit this trait. It seems unlikely that such behaviours would evolve completely independently in so many different species that are all related to each other and share so many common neurological features.

prometheus76 4y ago
The other very strange aspect of consciousness is that the only way we have of experiencing consciousness is through our own consciousness. The recursive nature of trying to reflect on consciousness while using our consciousness to do so ends up having some very weird effects. The book, I Am A Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter is what got me thinking about this problem.

tdehnel 4y ago

Not surprising that a “lynguist” would think this. But it’s wrong. Animals can communicate with language (whales, chimps, etc etc). The thing that makes humans special is their ability to create and use explanatory knowledge. That’s why humans and no other animals have had an enlightenment or scientific revolution.