What makes us human?

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by reds4ever
who the hell is voting for 'soul'? the other options encompass the notion anyway

it is multiple choice...

Jon Miller

[MRT144]

Originally posted by Osweld


Many birds make ornamental nests. Some sing and dance, too.

I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are other animals that are artistic aswell.

these birds, are you sure the real motive isnt attracting mates?

[Zero]

Originally posted by Osweld


Many birds make ornamental nests. Some sing and dance, too.

I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are other animals that are artistic aswell.

nest building is necessity. singing and dancing is for sexual reproduction (attracting mate)

You can argue that they dont have to build nests so pretty. I was thinking about this before. But nevertheless animals dont make art for sake of just making art.

[Zero]

Originally posted by JCG
The fact we can do/have all of the above while still being a single animal species *is* rather impressive...

not really... given tens and thousands of years with ability to stack more knowledge from our ancestors by preserving theirs thru some sort of communication and method to create crude tools..... I bet dophins and chimps would have been so ahead of us.

Caveman wouldnt be wondering what we are wondering right now for example. Caveman is no better than a smart chimp, which shows just how much stacking of our knowledge thru written records have gotten us.

[MRT144]

my question is "how did we get to this point and where are we going from here?"

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by GePap
Philosophy and art is how I voted. Let them chimps try to direct a movie! wait, that might be a cool film to see....

It wasn't. A surprisingly large number of monkeys at an equally suprisingly large number of typewrites couldn't even come up with any actual words for the title; they ended up having to call it XXX.

Personally, I think what distiguishes us from the animals is our willingness to put more time into looking at other people have sex than into going out and having it ourselves. Go, evolution, go!

[Urban Ranger]

Our ability to stab others in the back for fun and profit.

[MRT144]

but also love one another for fun and profit

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Calc II


nest building is necessity. singing and dancing is for sexual reproduction (attracting mate)

You can argue that they dont have to build nests so pretty. I was thinking about this before. But nevertheless animals dont make art for sake of just making art.

There is, for example, a bird (the name escapes me) where the male will devout all it's time to building ornemental nests - never used for actual nesting. It'll build huge nests and put alot of deliberate personality into it, if you where to move one of it's leaves or stones, the bird will either put it back to a place it likes, or remove it form the nest as soon as it sees it. Each nest is very unique to the bird that built it.

How does doing something as a courting ritual diminish it? Everything that anything does, including humans, has an instinctual background of some sort. I could just as easily dismiss something like mathematics as "simply a method of observation". Besides, you surely aren't telling me that the entertainment industry has nothing to do with sex, are you?

[MRT144]

stop trying to poke holes in my theories...

and i hardly think the entertainment industry is art

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Calc II

not really... given tens and thousands of years with ability to stack more knowledge from our ancestors by preserving theirs thru some sort of communication and method to create crude tools..... I bet dophins and chimps would have been so ahead of us.

What do you mean by "ahead"? Technology does not equal intelligence - if humans are any judge, it might even be the opposite. Anyways, Dolphins do communicte but don't have any hands, and chimps... well, that's what we are.

Caveman wouldnt be wondering what we are wondering right now for example. Caveman is no better than a smart chimp, which shows just how much stacking of our knowledge thru written records have gotten us.

I think you're really underestimating our ancestors.

That reminds me of something else... alot of people will assume that other animals are stupid simply because they are unable to communicate with them - which also means they have no way of knowing what they are thinking, or what kind of thought processes they have.
What ever happened to that amazing human capacity for conjecture and extrapolation?

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Calc II


nest building is necessity. singing and dancing is for sexual reproduction (attracting mate)

You can argue that they dont have to build nests so pretty. I was thinking about this before. But nevertheless animals dont make art for sake of just making art.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ss/stories/s140922.htm

Whale song.

Also, off the coast of Vancouver Island is a beach where pods of killer whales go to a particular stretch and as far as scientists can tell, simply have fun.

http://www.travel-wise.com/northamerica/alertbay/alertbay.html

Of course one of the problems in divining why some animals do what they do, is the difference between their environments, their brains, the way they experience their environments and the way we interpret what they do. How do you know that hump-backed whale song is simply instinct? What common means of communication do we have?

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by MRT144
but also love one another for fun and profit

Animals do that too, but only we backstab. They can't.

[St Leo]

We are not different from animals. All attempts to differentiate us from our brethren have been blindingly pathetic, arbitrary, and self-serving (whether consciously or subconsciously).

[St Leo]

I killed the thread.