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> Blows my mind that so many people just have this hardened internalized idea that we're somehow significantly different than any other animal There are hard-a
by JumpCrisscross 6d ago
> Blows my mind that so many people just have this hardened internalized idea that we're somehow significantly different than any other animal
There are hard-asses on both ends. We are different from other animals. To me, that results in us having more moral agency for our actions. It also means recognising that we share this world with other beings, including billions of people, a tool-wielding sapience categorically distinct within the ecosystem.
- phoghed 6d ago> We are different from other animals Most animals are different from most others, we're just different enough to feel that we're somehow special.
- JumpCrisscross 6d ago> we're just different enough to feel that we're somehow special We’re similar to other globally-consequential species. The oxygen-generating organisms that promoted the GOE, for example. What makes us unique is we can be self aware about that power. Refusing to see that isn’t humility, it’s nihilism.
- s1artibartfast 6d agoWhat do you think 'special' means in that sentence? What differences would make something special?
- phoghed 6d agoObviously God made us in his image and gave us all this to rule over, no way we arose from the same primordial soup as the bugs and rats. We’ve got souls, they don’t.
- deleted 6d ago[deleted]
- s1artibartfast 5d agoI think you are being sarcastic and avoiding the question. Is there anything you think could make a species special?
- ben_w 5d agoI disagree. They wrote "we're just different enough to feel that we're somehow special". I think in that sentence "special" is bound to "feel", it's not separable into an "is" statement-of-fact, and religion is absolutely about feelings.
- s1artibartfast 5d agoWhat do you disagree about? i read 'somehow' in the first post as sarcastic, and think they are intentionally mocking religion in the second. If they are claiming we're not special, I'm asking what they think would qualify, it they think it is even possible to be special. I think many people use snark as a cheap rhetorical trick to be critical without advancing an alternative position.
- phoghed 5d agoThe “somehow” is because nobody had articulated how they are actually special, besides the usual religion driven answer. The obvious thing to point to is that we’ve acquired more complex language, which enabled us to do various neat things. To which I say ok but a zip file of floats and an algorithm has that too. Eukaryogenesis was probably a more significant / special historical moment than language or writing. I think this is all driven by people’s fear of their own insignificance. Is the pig that I ate last week really that much different than me? When I too die and turn into dirt or ash is that really it? It’s all over? Just like that? So what would qualify as being special? I haven’t seen a compelling argument as to why we are.
- s1artibartfast 5d agoThe post you origionally replied to included examples of ways humans are different from all other animals. You introduced the word "special".
- nsonha 6d agoThe difference is similar to that of people with insane net worth to normal people. You have lots of leverage to do globally impactful things (positive or otherwise). You're there by lining up a long series of met conditions, not by virtues only.
- ben_w 5d ago> Most animals are different from most others, we're just different enough to feel that we're somehow special. That's probably a similarity we share with other species, and I'd expect to a similar degree. We own pets, but sometimes we see cross-species adoption (and friendship*) in the wild, too. * or at least "alliance", given we can't in general read minds yet, just a few special cases with fMRI machines etc.