why is human being capable of transmiting knowledge while other animals are not?

Question

well... ok..i have to add details to this...

I am not saying that animals can´t learn from us or from each other... but they just cant transmit knowledge through generations in the same way we do. If you consider "hunting" or "flying" (wich are in fact much more instinctive than a lesson to be learned with parents) you must agree that they are not able to "upgrade" this habilities. that´s because they´re instinct... A very smart animal can create a hability but he will never be able to transmit it if it´s not instinctive... the monkeys that associate images to sounds cant transmit this knowledge to it´s sons and daughters and so on like human beings do... that´s why we have developed so many forms of science and produced so much information... and that´s also why we are considered "racional animals"... Basically i am trying to get to this point. We are considered "racional animals" because we transmit and develop knowledge troughout generations. Why can´t other animals do that?

IRRACIONAL animals CANNOT teach other irracional animals things they have learned that are NOT INSTINCTIVE.

list of well known Instincts:
-hunting
- flying
-swiming (in some cases)

Yes they CAN comunicate and teach instincts (but instincts can be learned in a slower and harder way without help too). But if they´ve leraned something uninstinctive or discovered something they WON´T BE ABLE to benefit further generations with that knowledge.

for the guy of the apes:

Yes...apes can comunicate using sings... but why thay can´t teach their sons how to do it, so all apes would be able to comunicate with signs and we would live in a mixed society? well..that´s because they can´t...

apes are taught instinctively... they press buttons or rise signs responding to somekind of estimulation. It´s in fact some sort of training... Every time it press the button "food" someone gives him food. So he learns that. But it won´t be able to teach it´s children that that buttom will give them food.They will eventualy disciover it by themselves by pressing the buttom.

The animals in zoos can´t live in wild places because they are not used to predators and hostility... They will have dificulties in hunting because they have never done it but it will soon pass... the main problem is in other wild animals wich may hurt or kill them to feed.

Joe K:
so why can´t apes teach other apes how to comunicate using signs?

Answer 1

Animals can't exchange information in all the same ways that we do, but there are things that can be learnt and passed on through animal species. No amount of your disputing will change it.
CyberNara
A ape/monkey, or whatever you choose as the primate of choice is eating ants. picking one up at a time. Another sees a stick swarming with ants, he picks it up, and eats them all as simple as that. Another sees what just transpired, takes the stick and sticks it in the ant hole. The stick gets pulled out swarming with ants, and are eaten. This process is repeated until he is satisfied. Others pick up, (if not shown how) on this easy way to eat and before you know it, they are all using this technique. THAT IS A WAY OF TRANSMITTING INFORMATION. End of dispute... How can you argue with a whole entire group of people anyways.
I just thought of something else... There was a movie where a human took in a goose egg for some reason. The goose grew up thinking that the human was it's parent... It never learnt to fly because he couldn't just flap his arms and fly. He had to teach it how to fly through a long process.

Answer 2

That is a very faulty premise. Animals are capable of transmitting knowledge. Hunting is not instinctive. Put an animal born in a zoo into the wild, it won't survive. Not only that, other animals appear to have language, like dolphins. And some apes have been taught to communicate with sign language.

And yes some knowledge of animals are transmitted throughout generations. Such as migratory patterns. Also, tool usage of some apes.

Edit: You really should be more "rational" about it. You just assume that they can't transmit knowledge. Actual scientists who have observed it woud say otherwise. Watch the discovery channel once in a while.

Answer 3

Who says animals are not capable of transmitting knowledge. What is your definition Knowledge? Maybe they can't teach each other how to figure out the square root of a number, or how to bake an apple pie, but animals teach other animals things all of the time. They say that a puppy taken away from its mother too soon, will have problems socializing with other dogs as an adult because it never learned how to properly behave around other dogs. If their behavior was pure instinct, it would not matter when they were taken away from their moms. Also, elephants and dolphins have been known to communicate with each other from great distances. Why would they do that? Communication is the transfer of knowledge, thoughts, ideas. Animals and humans have very different perspective on life, but that does not mean animals are not capable of transmitting knowledge that is necessary to their survival or well being.

Answer 4

By knowledge do you mean what to avoid, such as poison, predators, or natural disasters? Because animals are taught those things by the mother. We humans on the other hand have no idea how to see these, other than the news at 6.
If you are asking about reasoning and IQ I think it is because they don't need these things. Although I wish they could reason that the cruel owner is someone not to love.

Answer 5

That is not correct at all. Primates are able to learn some very basic words. They can match these word to pictures. Lions teach there young to hunt. Not only animals can transfer there knowledge from each other but also to us and us to them. It is only matter of the type of knowledge being transfered.

Answer 6

Animals can transmit knowledge to other animals. When they are young, their parents teach them the same fundamentals as our do. The complexity is not there and there is no written language that i know of, but they communicate and teach and show by example. If you ever have two cats or two dogs you will see that.

Answer 7

who says other animals cannot, and a better definition of "transmit information" would be useful. if you are talking about some sort of psycopathic communication, than i dont see the point of this question. No proven telepathic communication exists. However, consider this. the Homo Neanderthalis (Neanderthals for short) are said to have the ability to pass information to other their and one individual Neanderthal would have the memory of powerful events of all its ancetors. for instace if a Neanderthal were attacked by a lion, lived and had kids, his/her kids would be able to relive the attack as if it had been them and they would know what to do in such a situation.

"transmit information" is way to broad, try to narrow it.

Answer 8

actually they can it's just a matter of how, while we have to learn because when born our brains are too small to have anything "downloaded" from the parent animals are born with the knowledge already in them because unlike like our brains theirs don't grow, so in truth animals are better at "transmitting" then we are in a more direct sense anyway

Answer 9

That's a false perception....other species including insects transfer knowledge to their offspring..granted there are some that do not but the majority do.

Answer 10

Because we are intelligent creations.