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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 di

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
        > we might go on to populate entire galaxies and survive long At the moment, we "might" only in Sci-Fi movies. The reality is completely different. Better look at how we really handle global warming or control nuclear weapons. Civilization we know is much more fragile that those who believe to be "chosen by deity" are able to recognize.
        Houshalter 13y ago
        No country is stupid enough to use nuclear weapons, and it wouldn't make humans extinct in any case. And global warming couldn't even get as far as destroying civilization. We only have to make it 30 or 40 more years anyways.
- macspoofing 13y ago
  I know what you're saying, but that isn't the question. The question is "what makes us human" or some similar ridiculousness. // Having said that, come on. There is a correlation between brain size (i.e. number of neurons) and intelligence. It may not be 1:1 or linear (though how do you know the Neanderthals were not more more intelligent, or we aren't twice as intelligent as elephants?) but there is most certainly a strong strong correlation.
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.

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
        > we might go on to populate entire galaxies and survive long At the moment, we "might" only in Sci-Fi movies. The reality is completely different. Better look at how we really handle global warming or control nuclear weapons. Civilization we know is much more fragile that those who believe to be "chosen by deity" are able to recognize.
        Houshalter 13y ago
        No country is stupid enough to use nuclear weapons, and it wouldn't make humans extinct in any case. And global warming couldn't even get as far as destroying civilization. We only have to make it 30 or 40 more years anyways.
macspoofing 13y ago
I know what you're saying, but that isn't the question. The question is "what makes us human" or some similar ridiculousness. // Having said that, come on. There is a correlation between brain size (i.e. number of neurons) and intelligence. It may not be 1:1 or linear (though how do you know the Neanderthals were not more more intelligent, or we aren't twice as intelligent as elephants?) but there is most certainly a strong strong correlation.

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.