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"What makes us human?" has nothing to do with science. It is a strictly philosophical question.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
Houshalter 13y ago
I disagree. Questions like how the human brain works and how we can think abstractly, and how/why humans are so much more intelligent than other animals. There isn't really anything philosophical about it.
- macspoofing 13y ago
  I have no idea what the heck the author is talking about with that point. The question is either too simple, in that you can just itemize all the ways we are different (just so happens that "consciousness" - #5 - would be a pretty big bullet point, though we can just generalize and say our DNA makes us human), or nonsensical. Case in point: >how/why humans are so much more intelligent than other animals Because we have three times more neurons than the closest competition. Why do we have so many neurons? Because there was a selective pressure acting upon our ancestors. Furthermore, WE ARE ANIMALS. We have certain special traits unique to us, but every species has something special about it.
  - Houshalter 13y ago
    I get 1.7 to 2 times as many neurons as elephants, a little more for whales, and they don't seem even half as intelligent. Homo floresiensis had a brain considered small for a chimpanzee and was capable of making tools and lighting fires and very likely language. Meanwhile neanderthals had even bigger brains than us. The number of neurons alone isn't responsible for intelligence. Even if it was, that doesn't explain how intelligence works or what the hell the brain is actually doing.
    - acqq 13y ago
      Still remember that when the question is formulated as "what makes us humans" it gets the theological note to it implying that we are special, "divinely better" or whatever. And that we're not. We're just one specific attempt of all evolutionary attempts that happened through the billions of years.
      - Houshalter 13y ago
        We're not special? We're not better? Are we really being politically correct for the sake of animals?
        acqq 13y ago
        No, we are not "the chosen ones." We have the brains able to figure out more than other animals, but it was not predestined. And we are not the only ones "at the top of the evolution" either. Every animal you see is "at the top of the evolution" for its branch. I know it's hard to believe for those who grew up in protestant environment with the false belief that "God gave us the Earth to use it as we will."
        Houshalter 13y ago
        Humans certainly are "at the top of evolution". Though it depends greatly how you define "top of evolution". I mean in terms that we might go on to populate entire galaxies and survive long, long after the Earth has burned to a crisp and every other species is long dead. Or maybe you could define it in terms that we are capable of far, far more than any other animal. If you define it as "merely manages to survive and reproduce in the present" then yes, everything alive is at "the top of evolution", since that is actually part of the definition of "alive". Anyways I'm not sure it matters. How I came to exist doesn't change any of my goals. I'm still the same person whether I was put here by God or by random chance or by an evolutionary process.
        acqq 13y ago
  - saraid216 13y ago
    > Because there was a selective pressure acting upon our ancestors. I was under the impression that Lamarckian evolution was mostly disproven?
    - macspoofing 13y ago
      I wasn't referring to Lamarckian evolution at all. Just plain ol' Natural Selection.
- visakanv 13y ago
  this only applies as long as humans are the only intelligent, abstract-thinking creaturse around- what happens when we encounter others, alien or artificial or otherwise?
- eli_gottlieb 13y ago
  >how/why humans are so much more intelligent than other animals We're not dramatically smarter than other animals. The more biologists look, the more it turns out that some level of intelligence and some level of consciousness evolves in loads and loads of carnivores and omnivores. What we apes managed to evolve that was special was hands and culture. Hands gave us much more general power to manipulate the physical world (compare to a dog, which can achieve the intelligence of a small human child but will never be able to put Legos together). Culture let us pass down adaptations by learning instead of evolving. We're not actually that special.
  - Houshalter 13y ago
    Animals have a surprising degree of intelligence, I don't deny that. But it's nothing compared to a human. There is no abstract reasoning. They aren't limited simply because of a lack of hands.
hcarvalhoalves 13y ago
"Can science help us comprehend what makes us human?". Now that's a strictly philosophical question.
vacri 13y ago
This idea that science and philosophy are separate things needs to be killed. Philosophy isn't limited to navel-gazing about imaginary things. The scientific method is something that was determined through the application of philosophy throughout the ages. It's the application of logic and the reasoning around how best to determine robust results - this was achieved through 'applied' philosophy. Science and the scientific method relies deeply on philosophy - science could be described as being the business end of philosophy. And the highest qualification you can get in science is a PhD - a doctorate of philosophy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_science http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_science

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

I disagree. Questions like how the human brain works and how we can think abstractly, and how/why humans are so much more intelligent than other animals. There isn't really anything philosophical about it.

macspoofing 13y ago
I have no idea what the heck the author is talking about with that point. The question is either too simple, in that you can just itemize all the ways we are different (just so happens that "consciousness" - #5 - would be a pretty big bullet point, though we can just generalize and say our DNA makes us human), or nonsensical. Case in point: >how/why humans are so much more intelligent than other animals Because we have three times more neurons than the closest competition. Why do we have so many neurons? Because there was a selective pressure acting upon our ancestors. Furthermore, WE ARE ANIMALS. We have certain special traits unique to us, but every species has something special about it.
- Houshalter 13y ago
  I get 1.7 to 2 times as many neurons as elephants, a little more for whales, and they don't seem even half as intelligent. Homo floresiensis had a brain considered small for a chimpanzee and was capable of making tools and lighting fires and very likely language. Meanwhile neanderthals had even bigger brains than us. The number of neurons alone isn't responsible for intelligence. Even if it was, that doesn't explain how intelligence works or what the hell the brain is actually doing.
  - acqq 13y ago
    Still remember that when the question is formulated as "what makes us humans" it gets the theological note to it implying that we are special, "divinely better" or whatever. And that we're not. We're just one specific attempt of all evolutionary attempts that happened through the billions of years.
    - Houshalter 13y ago
      We're not special? We're not better? Are we really being politically correct for the sake of animals?
      - acqq 13y ago
        No, we are not "the chosen ones." We have the brains able to figure out more than other animals, but it was not predestined. And we are not the only ones "at the top of the evolution" either. Every animal you see is "at the top of the evolution" for its branch. I know it's hard to believe for those who grew up in protestant environment with the false belief that "God gave us the Earth to use it as we will."
        Houshalter 13y ago
        Humans certainly are "at the top of evolution". Though it depends greatly how you define "top of evolution". I mean in terms that we might go on to populate entire galaxies and survive long, long after the Earth has burned to a crisp and every other species is long dead. Or maybe you could define it in terms that we are capable of far, far more than any other animal. If you define it as "merely manages to survive and reproduce in the present" then yes, everything alive is at "the top of evolution", since that is actually part of the definition of "alive". Anyways I'm not sure it matters. How I came to exist doesn't change any of my goals. I'm still the same person whether I was put here by God or by random chance or by an evolutionary process.
        acqq 13y ago
- saraid216 13y ago
  > Because there was a selective pressure acting upon our ancestors. I was under the impression that Lamarckian evolution was mostly disproven?
  - macspoofing 13y ago
    I wasn't referring to Lamarckian evolution at all. Just plain ol' Natural Selection.
visakanv 13y ago
this only applies as long as humans are the only intelligent, abstract-thinking creaturse around- what happens when we encounter others, alien or artificial or otherwise?
eli_gottlieb 13y ago
>how/why humans are so much more intelligent than other animals We're not dramatically smarter than other animals. The more biologists look, the more it turns out that some level of intelligence and some level of consciousness evolves in loads and loads of carnivores and omnivores. What we apes managed to evolve that was special was hands and culture. Hands gave us much more general power to manipulate the physical world (compare to a dog, which can achieve the intelligence of a small human child but will never be able to put Legos together). Culture let us pass down adaptations by learning instead of evolving. We're not actually that special.
- Houshalter 13y ago
  Animals have a surprising degree of intelligence, I don't deny that. But it's nothing compared to a human. There is no abstract reasoning. They aren't limited simply because of a lack of hands.

hcarvalhoalves 13y ago

"Can science help us comprehend what makes us human?". Now that's a strictly philosophical question.

vacri 13y ago

This idea that science and philosophy are separate things needs to be killed. Philosophy isn't limited to navel-gazing about imaginary things. The scientific method is something that was determined through the application of philosophy throughout the ages. It's the application of logic and the reasoning around how best to determine robust results - this was achieved through 'applied' philosophy. Science and the scientific method relies deeply on philosophy - science could be described as being the business end of philosophy. And the highest qualification you can get in science is a PhD - a doctorate of philosophy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_science http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_science