16 ms·

The inquiry into human uniqueness is probably just another case of human curiosity, enabled by our (seemingly) boundless capacity for understanding across domai

by xk_id 3y ago

The inquiry into human uniqueness is probably just another case of human curiosity, enabled by our (seemingly) boundless capacity for understanding across domains, no? I agree about methodological limitations, but we do have plenty of examples where we measured features of animal cognition – it's just that we didn't find evidence that their abstractions can be boundless.

yieldcrv 3y ago
Why not balance that with all of the deficiencies of humans? There are a whole host of traits, defects, and unproductive aspects that haven't been weeded out. A small group of self starters have built the entire infrastructure for humans to excel in and only when given the structure to prioritize doing so. Most people are just a monotonous as every other species most of the time.
- xk_id 3y ago
  I find that angle very sympathetic, but it isn't clear to me at the moment if those people lack potential altogether; or, whether there are cognitive factors (e.g pertaining to education) which suppress that potential. If we could find the neurological basis for that potential, we could determine whether some people just don't engage it, or whether they lack it altogether and are therefore hopeless cattle. That basis might be the large size of the human pre-frontal cortex, which is shared by all healthy humans, so this is why I'm reluctant to dismiss the lack of potential.
  - yieldcrv 3y ago
    to me everything you wrote is the same with at least several other species
golemotron 3y ago
> The inquiry into human uniqueness is probably just another case of human curiosity, enabled by our (seemingly) boundless capacity for understanding across domains, no? I think it is like the Ptolemaic model of the universe. We want to be special. Same as "my home team is the best in the world."

16 ms·

The inquiry into human uniqueness is probably just another case of human curiosity, enabled by our (seemingly) boundless capacity for understanding across domai

by xk_id 3y ago

yieldcrv 3y ago
Why not balance that with all of the deficiencies of humans? There are a whole host of traits, defects, and unproductive aspects that haven't been weeded out. A small group of self starters have built the entire infrastructure for humans to excel in and only when given the structure to prioritize doing so. Most people are just a monotonous as every other species most of the time.
- xk_id 3y ago
  I find that angle very sympathetic, but it isn't clear to me at the moment if those people lack potential altogether; or, whether there are cognitive factors (e.g pertaining to education) which suppress that potential. If we could find the neurological basis for that potential, we could determine whether some people just don't engage it, or whether they lack it altogether and are therefore hopeless cattle. That basis might be the large size of the human pre-frontal cortex, which is shared by all healthy humans, so this is why I'm reluctant to dismiss the lack of potential.
  - yieldcrv 3y ago
    to me everything you wrote is the same with at least several other species
golemotron 3y ago
> The inquiry into human uniqueness is probably just another case of human curiosity, enabled by our (seemingly) boundless capacity for understanding across domains, no? I think it is like the Ptolemaic model of the universe. We want to be special. Same as "my home team is the best in the world."