Thought instead of continuing to thread jack the topic on abortion I would move this discussion into it's own thread.
The question is, are Humans animals? Can we even be compared to animals?
If we are not animals then what are we?
An argument was put forth we are socially not animals. On this I have to ask what is it socially that makes us truly that different? We pursue things just for the sheer pleasure of it? we see this behavior in other animals so that can't be it.
Another argument was we are not animals because unlike animals we have souls. If this is the case then what is a soul? What proof is there that such a thing even exists?
If that's true, why is it called racist to call a black man a monkey?
Well most people have the perception that monkeys are less evolved then humans. Or as what sparked this topic some believe that humans and animals are some how different things. Either way this often results in people considering animals to be lesser then humans.
[quote]but we managed to lose the tails and stuff.
can you explain how we did that?[/quote]
As our direct ancestors moved away from a life primarily in the trees to a life primarily on the ground the trait for a tail no longer needed to be active. This is only an educated guess on my part though, there could be other factors involved.
Once we all die out, the monkeys that never evolved will become a new super human!
Terrasquids will rule the Earth!... Been watching "The Future Is Wild".
so if I give a monkey an iPod it will evolve?,
That's not how evolution works.
any hard evidence of monkeys evolving please post.
why is it called racist to call a black man a monkey?
Because we aren't monkeys for one. And because traditionally, calling somebody another animal is regarded as an insult. And it's only racist because the person you're insulting is black.
Are humans animals?
According to the current taxonomy, yes. We belong to the animal kingdom.
In what way is a human an animal?
All members of the animal kingdom share a number of common features including the general gist of our metabolism, respiration and organ systems and structure, including a nervous system, which also includes a brain (more properly known as a central nervous system).
Doesn't a human's brain make them special?
We regard each different species as unique in some way or another otherwise there'd be no point in naming them differently! The human brain is regarded as special because what we call consciousness is a process that convinces us that we are conscious. In the same way we're compelled to believe this is somehow special.
However the term "sentience" has limited power and I'd personally discourage its use because it tends to obstruct, rather than aid learning in this area. Other species of animal (e.g. crows, octopi and dolphins, not just primates) have been scientifically demonstrated to have deductive capacities on par of that with humans (albeit in a different context), and it is now suggested that other species still (dogs especially) have senses and modes of awareness that humans do not possess.
There is far too much that we do not understand about the animal kingdom. It bugs me when people say animals have no soul or they are dumb. We are deffo animals, I think this is a general concensus for educated people.
It bugs me when people say animals have no soul or they are dumb.
animals are smart, but the reason some people might think animals are dumb because they can't talk human language, but my cat responds when I say stuff to it, if I say give me high-5 it will do it, I find cats very smart and they always like to play and learn new stuff whatever they see you do. My cat saw my sisters slide down at he playground and my cat copied and went up the slide and came down, it kept doing the same thing for 15 minutes.
animals are smart, but the reason some people might think animals are dumb because they can't talk human language
Aye... this seems to be the main reason for people saying this. Still bugs me tho. I try not to stoop to name calling the name callers but it gets difficult. I guess people have an inferiority complex and they want to feel better than something. tbh we do the same to our fellow humans all the time.
Yes we are animals, our brain is not much different its just that we have one of the most advance forms of communication, the first human is dated back around 2 million years our ancestors I think are like 50-30,000 years (Cro-Magnon) I think the first civilization is around 10000 years, that is they had villages and such. There were other species of humans but most were wiped out,naturally or by other humans. But eventually our advance communication(language) became written and allowed us to remember stuff more then 3-4 generations.
Yes we are animals, our brain is not much different its just that we have one of the most advance forms of communication, the first human is dated back around 2 million years our ancestors I think are like 50-30,000 years (Cro-Magnon) I think the first civilization is around 10000 years, that is they had villages and such. There were other species of humans but most were wiped out,naturally or by other humans. But eventually our advance communication(language) became written and allowed us to remember stuff more then 3-4 generations.
Were you there? Did you happen to see all this happen? One cannot prove such speculation to be true by any means.
