Why is the human species so different from every other species on this planet ?

Question

Would the planet be better off without them ?

Answer 1

Opposable thumbs AND sentience.

Of course it would, but it, like all systems is self-regulating. If things get too bad it will balance the scales just like our bodies do when we get sick. So, I am not too worried about the fate of the earth.

Answer 2

Biologically we're not all that different than our cousins the great apes, with whom we share more than 90% of our DNA. What sets humans apart is our highly-developed brain, most notably our powers of higher reasoning. That has enabled us to develop sophisticated tools and change our environment to suit us. Whether or not the planet would be better off without us is really an irrelevant question since we're here, like it or not. The earth would undoubtedly be cleaner and many more species of animals would still be around but on the other hand at some point in the future we're going to be in the path of a planet-killing asteroid. We're the first and only species that has the capability to do something about it and we undoubtedly will. We also have the capability to repair the damage to coastlines and whatnot caused by major storms. No other species can alter the environment like we can and, good or bad, we are a part of this earth. We only need to learn that there is nowhere else we can go right now and start treating the earth like we own it and not just renting it.

Answer 3

I don't think we are, really. We have taken one particular trait - intelligence - and developed it to a higher degree than any other organism. But you could say the same thing about anything else: lots of creatures fly, but albatrosses (for example) do it much better than anyone else; in the same way, lots of creatures have intelligence, but we just have more.

In any case, I would say that an overwhelming majority of the differences between us and other animals is cultural, and this comes down to one particular innovation: language, which has allowed us to pass on inventions from one generation to the next.

Whether or not the planet would be "better off" without us is an impossible question to answer. Life would go on without us, certainly.

Answer 4

I am always amazed to read things such as you wrote. First of all, Humankind is only ONE species. Whether you subscribe to Religion as an explanation or the Atheists "Out of Africa", ALL have the same formula: there were only a few humans and every one alive today (and all the billions since those original humans until now) are descended from Adam & Eve (or whatever religion you might read about) or those few from "Out of Africa". If you grow a garded for several years in a row, you will find a great difference from year to year . When you consider the great differences in where humans live, the great differences in weather, food eaten, etc., it really does not seem strange at all. As to skin color, blacks who have lived in cold climes for thousands of years are still black; whites who have lived in the tropics or deserts for thousands of years are still white. Red, yellow, black, white and brown people were created; they still are respectively, despite intermarrying. Read some good books by anthropoligists and historians. Perhaps you would enjoy "The Neanderthal’s Necklace, In Search of the First Thinkers", Juan Luis Arsuaga, Translated by Andy Klatt, Illustrations by Juan Carlos Sastre, Copyright 2001 by Juan Luis Arsuaga, Translation Copyright 2002 by Four Walls Eight Windows.

Answer 5

the fact we have wiped out more species than the meteor that hit the bay of Mexico i would say that the earth would be a better place without humans.

Answer 6

Most definitely.
It is the downside of our intelligence. Practically everything that is messing up our world was designed to save us time or effort in one way or another. Yes, even weapons, as we have always been able to pick up a stick to batter someone to death with, now we can press a button and murder a million.
Talk about labour saving!

Answer 7

i think that the world would definitely have been better off without humans.
we just have a higher degree of intelligence than other species. plus some other crap about evoloution. =]

Answer 8

Humans aren't that different. It is thinking that we are somehow special and different that is a source of a lot of the problems we make, in my opinion.

Answer 9

everything on earth is made from carbon 14, that makes us all similar in the basic building structure! Even the earth is made from carbon 14.

Answer 10

Snakes, skunks and orangutans don't believe in or worship God.