What makes us human?

[OneFootInTheGrave]

As opposed to an animal?

Whether you assume we were created by God, or evolved from animals... what makes us distinct from them?

Or probably the best would be your perceived "most important" distinction... tick few if you cannot decide.

[Dinner]

who's human? I'm a giant banana slug.

[Skanky Burns]

I chose logic, abstract thinking and communication.

[Dauphin]

There are many things that make us different compared to other animals, but that is by defintion true of all species.

The complexity of our brain is what makes us the dominant species. Everything else flows from that (language, logic etc...). Other animals have these abilities, just not as refined as ours.

[Ben Kenobi]

Not much of a surprise, but I vote:

Genesis 1:27

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

Which I suppose counts as soul.

[VetLegion]

This is a trick question because all those attributes can also be found in an animal or a computer.

[Japher]

What makes us human?

The ability to ask, and attempt to answer, that question.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Well a computer could have a more complex "mind" soon... as for animals they could as well have souls

'

one thing that appears that only humans have from the above is the sense of supernatural ...

[MRT144]

vet, when are animals creative without human prodding, when are computers logical without human prodding, whens the last time you saw an animal and a computer debate ayn rand?

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Animals can be creative without humans - they learn stuff, like new feeding grounds, how to sort out physical obstacles ..etc...

computers on the other hand could/are pushed towards creativity/randomness call it what you like with advances in AI.

[MRT144]

One foot, actually instinct to adapt wouldnt really what i would consider creative.

its the fact that we use our creativity to do things that arent related to our survival which is what i find astounding

[Japher]

Slef preservation does not separate us from the beast, nor do the means by which it is accomplished. What separates us is the will, or reasons why, we chose to do so, or in some cases chose not to do so...

[General Ludd]

As opposed to being an animal?
That's one of the main things that makes us human.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

well it is not always just instinct... I am sure that the plays that dolphins have or some other animals that just bind their time could be classed as creativity. And as far as I have watched they have some sort of better communication between themselves too...

[reds4ever]

i voted art, more specifically, jewellry, face painting etc. the ability to understand how others percieve us