What makes Humans Human?

@friendlybear Said

Let me just make a small correction to make this more understandable.



That's what it should say.

@jonnythan Said

Does it matter? Humans can. No other animal in existence can write speculative fiction, in any sort of language.

I can tell ghost stories. I can plan my retirement. I can think about having a child and where he might go to college. I can discuss the implications of Voltaire's writing. I can wonder aloud at what would have happened if Lincoln had not been shot. I can pretend I'm an astronaut.

No organism besides Homo sapiens can do any of these things.

These are incredibly complex thought processes. I can't think these things because I have a soul - I can think them because my brain is more complex and sophisticated than any other animal's thanks to evolution.

@2nd_Evil_Head Said

Yes, I did get your point. We can also do this:
57652063616e20626520706564616e746963206d6f6e6b657973

Quote:
sen?tient (snshnt, -sh-nt)
adj.
1. Having sense perception; conscious: "The living knew themselves just sentient puppets on God's stage" T.E. Lawrence.
2. Experiencing sensation or feeling.

Quote:
Main Entry: soul
Pronunciation: ˈs?l
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English soule, from Old English s?wol; akin to Old High German s?ula soul
Date: before 12th century
1: the immaterial essence, animating principle, or actuating cause of an individual life
2 a: the spiritual principle embodied in human beings, all rational and spiritual beings, or the universe bcapitalized Christian Science : god 1b
3: a person's total self
4 a: an active or essential part b: a moving spirit : leader
5 a: the moral and emotional nature of human beings b: the quality that arouses emotion and sentiment c: spiritual or moral force : fervor
6: person <not a soul in sight>
7: personification <she is the soul of integrity>
8 a: a strong positive feeling (as of intense sensitivity and emotional fervor) conveyed especially by black American performers

@friendlybear Said

Compare the highlighted definitions, do they not mean one and the same?

@friendlybear Said

Compare the highlighted definitions, do they not mean one and the same?

@alexkidd Said

Do you believe there is an intrinsic property in humans that seperates them from animals?
A soul perhaps?

Is the difference between humans and 'animals' over some such unique ability or quality or is it simply a matter of degrees, us being much better but not that different?

Basically what do you think humans can do but animals cannot?
Animals can use tools, communicate with eachother, display emotion partake in complex social behaviour,many have equal and in some cases better memory.

(for clarification, i recognise that humans ARE animals, but you know what i mean)

@jonnythan Said

Uh.

No.

If they did mean the same thing, it would simply be saying that the ability to think is, itself, the soul. If you want to accept that definition, then the soul is a perfectly natural thing bound to physical reality.

@friendlybear Said

Exactly, I never intimated otherwise. I am not in agreement with the religious views of soul.

@jonnythan Said

Saying that I'm dumber than a macaque doesn't make it true.

Let's see a macaque learn to write speculative fiction in Latin. Think they can do that?

@cobra3 Said

Lets say you could write speculative fiction in Latin. Who would care? It isn't like it would be more significant than a macaque display.

@jonnythan Said

Saying that I'm dumber than a macaque doesn't make it true.

Let's see a macaque learn to write speculative fiction in Latin. Think they can do that?

@jonnythan Said

I am growing tired of your personal attacks and insults.

Address the content of my posts instead of personally attacking me, please.