What Makes Humans Human?

@Ragman,

About humans having sex in public has been reported in the local newspaper, but it was some decades ago. I don't remember whether it was at a college or a drinking party - maybe both. There are some on YouTube with sex at public places.

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@Thomas,

Humans only recently stopped having sex in public..... native americans had sex in shared sleeping quarters. I think this point doesn't so much cause us to be human as it is something we do because we are human.

Also, not only our close cousins do the couple thing. Some birds do as well. Dog packs (wolves, anyway), rear pups in a group that includes both mom and and (as well as siblings and aunts).

1 Reply

@Ragman,

Ragman wrote:

How do we know what recreation is for another animal? More anthromorphism.

We don't need to, because you can't have recreational sex if you're not having sex. In general, social mammals don't have sex unless both partners are fertile.

Ragman wrote:

Generally, my thought is this: why is that being human is considered a plus? We seem destined to make the whole planet go away in the next 100 yrs. As a species (just like our own infernal nationalism), we have a distorted view of our own importance.

I agree. Indeed, that was the point of my first post to this thread.

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@littlek,

littlek wrote:

Humans only recently stopped having sex in public..... native americans had sex in shared sleeping quarters. I think this point doesn't so much cause us to be human as it is something we do because we are human.

Good point.

littlek wrote:

Also, not only our close cousins do the couple thing. Some birds do as well. Dog packs (wolves, anyway), rear pups in a group that includes both mom and and (as well as siblings and aunts).

I agree Diamond's way of framing the issue might have been a little too clever. Why just social mammals and not birds? Why insist on the combination of family and couples? It sounds a bit like an attempt of his to frame the problematic cases for his thesis out of sight.

But I'll be damned before I let that get in the way of a good story.

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1 of those things that sets us apart from animals, is the fact that we can record and convey verbal information and thoughts, which we can build upon, so that we may uphold an advanced culture, instead of reinventing everything for each generation.

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@HexHammer,

I still say there isnt anything different about us than our capacity for logic, learning, etc.(I'd have to explain it this way; You have a computer from 20 years ago versus a computer from today, they both do the same thing but one is WAY more advanced and has capabilities the other doesn't)

We do everything animals do. I dont quite know why most humans have these egotistical thing goin where they think they are somehow better than "other" animals. Just look around, our houses are more complex, our language is more advanced, we bend nature rather than bend to it...

I think we have quit evolving. We dont need to. the weak children still survive, the disabled still survive.

There might be something that seperates us. we take care of our weak.

What other animals do that?

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@rlh,

rlh wrote:

I think we have quit evolving. We dont need to. the weak children still survive, the disabled still survive.

There might be something that seperates us. we take care of our weak.

What other animals do that?

Elephants

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@rlh,

rlh wrote:

You have a computer from 20 years ago versus a computer from today, they both do the same thing but one is WAY more advanced and has capabilities the other doesn't)
There might be something that seperates us. we take care of our weak.

What other animals do that?

I'm afraid the basis of your anology is selfcontradicting, which in the end gives no clear meaning.

Highly evolved social interaction isn't a premesis for other intelligences.

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I'll repeat my earlier answer, "We have the ability to ask abstract questions of other members of our species". That ability is not only unique on this planet, but also significant as an indicator of what got us to where we are.

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@rosborne979,

rosborne979 wrote:

I'll repeat my earlier answer, "We have the ability to ask abstract questions of other members of our species". That ability is not only unique on this planet, but also significant as an indicator of what got us to where we are.

Agreed... Concepts and the ability to conceive and then communicate our conceptions... We had to have something to say before saying it... and the saying of it helped our ability to conceive of it...

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@rosborne979,

rosborne979 wrote:

I'll repeat my earlier answer, "We have the ability to ask abstract questions of other members of our species". That ability is not only unique on this planet, but also significant as an indicator of what got us to where we are.

You are wrong, the gorilla Coco back in the days, would also ask highly abstarct questions. Just that it didn't have the same vocabulary as us humans, it still were able to do very complex thinking, it wasn't unique for just this gorilla ..but for all, once teached the ways of hand signs.

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@HexHammer,

HexHammer wrote:

rosborne979 wrote:

I'll repeat my earlier answer, "We have the ability to ask abstract questions of other members of our species". That ability is not only unique on this planet, but also significant as an indicator of what got us to where we are.

You are wrong, the gorilla Coco back in the days, would also ask highly abstarct questions. Just that it didn't have the same vocabulary as us humans, it still were able to do very complex thinking, it wasn't unique for just this gorilla ..but for all, once teached the ways of hand signs.

I'd like to teached you the ways of the written word... Call me master...

1 Reply

@Fido,

Master of Ignorance?

1 Reply

@HexHammer,

HexHammer wrote:

rosborne979 wrote:

I'll repeat my earlier answer, "We have the ability to ask abstract questions of other members of our species". That ability is not only unique on this planet, but also significant as an indicator of what got us to where we are.

You are wrong, the gorilla Coco back in the days, would also ask highly abstarct questions.

Such as?

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@rosborne979,

rosborne979 wrote:

HexHammer wrote:

rosborne979 wrote:

I'll repeat my earlier answer, "We have the ability to ask abstract questions of other members of our species". That ability is not only unique on this planet, but also significant as an indicator of what got us to where we are.

You are wrong, the gorilla Coco back in the days, would also ask highly abstarct questions.

Such as?

Been over 10 years since I'v seen documentaries about Coco, please go find it yoself, sorry that I can't be more of assistance to you.

1 Reply

@rosborne979,

It seems he's mistaken his memory for Coco the Clown.

1 Reply

@cicerone imposter,

cicerone imposter wrote:

It seems he's mistaken his memory for Coco the Clown.

Spare me.

1 Reply

@HexHammer,

HexHammer wrote:

Been over 10 years since I'v seen documentaries about Coco, please go find it yoself, sorry that I can't be more of assistance to you.

That's alright, I don't need any assistance. I had already checked. There is no support for your assertion.

By the way, it's Koko, not Coco.

1 Reply

@HexHammer,

Spare yourself with your unfounded claims.

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@rosborne979,

rosborne979 wrote:

HexHammer wrote:
Been over 10 years since I'v seen documentaries about Coco, please go find it yoself, sorry that I can't be more of assistance to you.

That's alright, I don't need any assistance. I had already checked. There is no support for your assertion.

By the way, it's Koko, not Coco.

Excelent.

2 Replies

What Makes Humans Human?

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