What makes you think we are more than just another species of animal?

Question

Becasue we are more inteligent?

And if aliens came to earth with super inteligence then would that demote us to just another animal?

We think we are superior but are we?
Many living things on this earth can do things we never could so what makes us so important?

I would prefer if you could leave religion and god out of your answers.

Answer 1

Differences between humans and animals
by Andrew Lansdown

No single, essential difference separates human beings from other animals.' So began a feature article on evolution in TIME magazine ('How Man Began', March 14, 1994). The more I thought about this sweeping statement the more I began to warm to it.

For example, like humans, apes have well formed rational faculties. Their ability to develop an argument, follow a line of logic, draw conclusions and frame hypotheses is quite remarkable.

Also like humans, apes have a marked faculty for language. (This, of course, is intertwined with their powers of reason.) Their vocabulary is enormous, their grammar complex, and their conversations deep and meaningful.

The apes' ability to codify language in writing is further proof of their close relationship to humans. In this respect, it was most gratifying to see the number of apes who wrote to TIME magazine in response to the article on 'How Man Began'. I was particularly interested to follow the line of reasoning of the orang-utan who argued that apes had evolved from humans, not vice versa.

Like humans, apes also have a strong spirit of inquiry. Their research in the fields of astronomy, mathematics, medicine and physics is noteworthy.

Apes also (again, like humans) yearn for meaning in life. This is why they devote so much of their time to philosophy, theology and ethics. The religious sentiments and practices of all apes can be traced back to their intense and endless quest for meaning.

Apes are concerned about questions not only of origin but also of destiny. The best proof I can offer for this claim is the maxim by one famous ape philosopher who said, 'Whether my life leads ultimately to the dirt or to the Judgment, either way, I've got a problem.'

Apes also have, like humans, a refined aesthetic sense. They admire beauty and long to surround themselves with it. When an ape cultivates a garden, puts flowers in a vase, or hangs up a painting, what is it doing if not expressing a love of beauty?

Again like humans, apes have a strong creative impulse. This is seen in their poetry, painting, dance, drama and music. To a lesser extent their creativity is also evident in the way they gather in weekly craft groups to weave baskets, spin wool, knit shawls, and cover photo albums.

The sense of humour shared by all apes is another proof of their close kinship to humans. Their delight in the ridiculous and their love of a good laugh is plain from the popular ape jokes they tell.

Reason, language, inquiry, wonder, longing, religion, morality, aesthetics, creativity, imagination, aspiration and humour ... such intangible but fundamental qualities are by no means unique to humans, as I hope I have conclusively shown. Therefore, in the profound words of TIME magazine: 'No single, essential difference separates human beings from other animals'.

This being the case, Christians are plainly wrong to insist that humans and animals are vastly different. And they are also obviously wrong to insist that this difference arises from the fact that God created us humans in His own likeness. And if they are wrong to insist that God made us in His own likeness, then they are wrong to insist that God has any claim on us.

Furthermore, if God has no claim on us, then we are free — free to be animals like our evolutionary ancestors — free to be as low-down as snakes, and to make pigs of ourselves, and to act like donkeys.

Did I say 'free'?

Hiss! Oink! Hee-haw!

Andrew Lansdown, B.A., B.A.(Hons), Dip.Ed., is a writer, teacher and pastor. He is well known for his articles on social and spiritual issues, and for his poetry and fiction.

Answer 2

maybe this is more of a psychological question....

some people argue intelligence, some people argue reasoning. I think it's more the fact that humans don't really have instincts. we are born not knowing how to find food, we have to learn/figure out how to reproduce, etc.

also, if you notice, animals don't exhibit certain traits that humans do. Like personally, I've never seen an animal guilty about killing another animal. I've only seen a realization of consequence, like a dog knowing it will be punished if it bites the neighbour's child, but the fact that it bit the kid doesn't seem to bother the dog.

so human nature is what separates us from the animals. if aliens were to come along (hypothetically), I don't think we'd see ourselves (or the aliens wouldn't see us) as animals, cuz if they had any reasoning, they'd conclude that all the skyscrapers and cars weren't built by just random events...

Answer 3

They have to get off their duffs and start dealing with the knee-jerk opposition to every environmental issue. Current estimates of the rate of extinction is 3 species PER HOUR. That exceeds any mass extinction in the history of the planet. Picture a long list with every species name on it scrolling past at that rate. Somewhere on that list is the name Homo Sapiens This type of news is heavily suppressed in the USA . The American public is fed a steady diet of Paris Hilton, diapered astronauts, Brittany Spears, and Anna Nicole-- and they want it to stay that way. We can't wait forever for everyone to wake up. If we do, none of us are going to make it. You're right about the dolphins of course, but there is also mass starvation of people going on attributable to the same factors that are killing off the other species.

Answer 4

The truth is that we may never know the answer to this question.

Currently, scientists say that we are superior because we are self-aware and can question our own actions, think about the past, and make conscious choices that are contrary to our instincts.

However, history has proven over and over again that science often proves itself to be wrong given enough time. We learn more and grow in our understanding. So 150 years from now scientists could discover that dolphins (who are rumored to have superior intelligence to humans) are indeed self-aware. We'll have to wait and see.

And I cannot leave this discussion without talking about spirituality (not religion). It has been said, and I personally believe that we are truly spiritual beings having a temporary physical experience. In my study of spiritual teachings, I have also read that spiritual beings can incarnate into the bodies of animals.

So who is superior?

No one. We all (human or animal) have different strengths, weaknesses and aptitudes. No single being is like another. And on a spiritual level, superiority is not an issue.

Unfortunately, it is our humanity that causes us to view our lives this way (who's better) and this is based in fear.

I believe that the human race can become superior by consciously choosing to master their emotions and master their thinking. If we could learn to reduce fear we would no longer have the need to take from others (which is the source of all crime, vengeful, and violent acts towards eachother) but instead support on another to survive and thrive.

If we could evolve as a species to that level, maybe then we could call ourselve superior. Right now we have the potential which makes us special. But we are not living that way.

Answer 5

Nothing makes me think I am "just" another species of animal. I am an animal of course but not "just another". I am asocial being, a specific level and qualitavely original form of individual.
And we do have a superior activity and that is to be able to choose voluntarily between a wide range of options some of which we are able to create ourselves which makes us superior to any other animal on earth. And envi of other abilities of other species is ok if it helps you increase your own envi at yourself for what you are able to do.
And as long as you use religion and God in any answer where it is logical to do so.

Answer 6

Because we can ask that very question.

In nature, superior and inferior depend vastly on context, and aren't very descriptive terms. Humans have become well adapted to living all over the Earth, and have adapted the means to support large populations. That puts us ahead of some species, but behind others, like insects. Still, I like to think our cognitive abilities allow us a different sort of existence from the other animals.

Answer 7

I think we are different because unlike other species we haven't just physically adapted to be in the survival game, human race has evolved and survived by the use of Grey cells alone. We have continued our evolution process by not adapting to the environment but making the environment adapt to us or inventing things which make us comfortable, instead of physically adapting to changes.

Though we aren't strongest, fastest or the most adaptable of species we have managed to be the most dominant, we have managed to move into their (animals) space and homes and driven quite a lot of them to extinction just to make things more easier or profitable for us.

The thing that sets us apart is not just the power we have managed to gain over the planet, the way we have altered the Eco-systems but also the fact that we not only control our fates but determine the entire planets.

If aliens ever come down AND prove to be a superior race then I don't think we shall be just another specie of animal, we'd still be the waging a war against them and if we lose them maybe we'd be the most intelligent animals, that is working on the assumption that the aliens are superior, but I wonder why we always assume the Aliens to be super-intellects, they could be dumber than us Can't they?

Answer 8

Well, I think you could say that humans are more intelligent than any other beings on earth due to dominance we exhibit over all other animals in nature by our vast array of technology. I mean you must admit that there is a difference in intelligence atleast between a monkey and a "human"? can you not?

Answer 9

Well, I hope you don't count this as religion, but it seems to me that Aliens have already been here and done that. What could making Eve from Adams rib be but cloning? What could the Tree of Knowledge be but a computer described 7,000 years ago. What could the Apple (fruit of all knowledge) which lost Adam and Eve their innocence be but the computer program. What could we be but a controlled experiment by a God who in every sense was from somewhere other than this place, an Alien from Heaven which could only be the Universe.

Isn't this also borne out by that fact that Homo Sapiens started living on this Earth with no discernable ancestors, at exactly the same time as the Neanderthal's died out. Replacement of a prototype with a new model.

Answer 10

We can change the world in ways animals can't but we're not superior to animals as you say in the question there are animals who can do things we never will without machines.

Answer 11

the power of reason, the power to imagin things that dont exist but will do when one has biult them.knowledge of all the working parts of our own body, mind spirit and capabilities.An animal recognises nothing of value that he cant eat, so gold would be useless to them.We are not anouther species of animal we are totaly different, we mey resemble outher animals buts thats because we need a simular form in order to eat drink and breath, thats where the simularity ends.