To an athiest, what makes us different from the animals?

Nothing. We adhere to instincts and adapt to our surroundings. Only thing is we questioning our instincts. If a flock of birds questioned why they migrated they'd probably think it was beautiful. Things like emotion and beauty are simply our AWARENESS of our instincts. Of course that AWARENESS could be argued as the the gift from God by theists. I am athiest but I do see the validity of the argument. Let me return a question, if a species much higher than us came along, don't you think it would group us in with the animals? Ever looked at a highway system and noticed the similarities of an ant colony? This isn't by chance... What are the ants doing? Going from one spot in which the colony needs it to another. Just like humans going from work to contribute to society, then home to raise the next generation of society...

Brainpower.

Self awareness. I think most of us know we need food to survive. Do animals know they need food to survive, or do they just know they need food?

*Edit: So I guess, as Cris said, brainpower. Essentially the only difference is the difference of adaptable traits (including self-awareness and other brain functions ;))

But self-awareness is just the result of increased brainpower.

Try the mirror test. Most animals will not recognize themselves when they look in a mirror and usually think they are seeing another animal, although many do not react because they also use others senses, e.g. smell, and mirrors do not reflect scent. But chimpanzees, and gorillas, are able to recognize themselves in mirrors. This is a simple level of self-awareness and is not entirely limited to humans.

To an athiest, what makes us different from the animals?

Roughly defined, 'Animals' are multicellular organisms with the
capacity for locomotion, restricted growth, pronounced response
to stimulii, and fixed body structure. By definition Humans are
'animals' as much as dogs and cats are.

On a sidenote, Humans are the most dominant 'animals' on the
planet (for now anyway).

This is like asking "What makes a dog different from a ferret?", they're both animals, they just have different characteristics. For us, these characteristics come mainly in the form of greater intelligence and upright bipedal motion (though chimps can walk upright, and I'm sure there are some other animals that can, we do it all the time though). We're just smart animals, basically.

Humans are smart critters, still critters, still animals. calling us not animals is wrong, since humans are animals. thus the qustion is irrelvent.

Waht seperates humans from the other animals is that we're smarter than any other animal any other seperatin is simply human prejudics.

Whether you're an athist or not is irelleven., since this is just simple logic. unless you're a creationist, in that case you don't use logic.

A bat has radar senses, does this make it not an animal?

A human is like a hyper bat. Just more intelligent.

Originally posted by notme2000
A bat has radar senses, does this make it not an animal?
Bats use sonar.

Originally posted by Cris
But self-awareness is just the result of increased brainpower.

Try the mirror test. Most animals will not recognize themselves when they look in a mirror and usually think they are seeing another animal, although many do not react because they also use others senses, e.g. smell, and mirrors do not reflect scent. But chimpanzees, and gorillas, are able to recognize themselves in mirrors. This is a simple level of self-awareness and is not entirely limited to humans.

A little while back they did a mirror test with dolphins. The dolphins discovered it was themselves.

Cris said it, brainpower is what makes us different from animals, thats it, the rest are just a result of that high intelligence, from detecting color, to self awareness, to understanding of concepts..Our High intelligence is what makes us dominant. "The mind is the seat of wisdom", Knowledge comes from God...

"my WORDS are spirit and life"- Jesus, and your brain is where the words dwell....From yor brain to your heart, etc..

Im definitely not an atheist..

Originally posted by DeSeRt RaT UK
A little while back they did a mirror test with dolphins. The dolphins discovered it was themselves.

I had a parakeet with a brain the size of a small pea, even she knew it was herself in the mirror.

yeah, cris is wrong for saying that. Parakeet does recognize themselves in the mirror..

Bats use sonar
Right, I knew that... I feel like a dunce now, lol

what makes us different from the animals?


The Animal Mind reveals powerful evidence that animals possess human-like capacities for perception, thought, and language—suggesting that the gulf between human and animal consciousness isn’t nearly as wide as once believed.

Green Herons toss bread-crumbs into the water to attract fish - have they been watching human anglers? Do they "know" what they are doing?
Termites cut air shafts into their nests - do they understand ventilation? This suggests a sophisticated planning ability.

-- The Animal Mind -- James L. Gould, Carol Grant Gould


James and Carol Gould present a theory suggesting we are "closer" to animals then previously understood. If so, the only noticeable difference between us imo, is whether or not animals kill for sport.

first the believers claim animals have no souls
now heathens call the animals stupid

is there no end to man's arrogance?
answer me this! (dammit)

:D

I believe bacteria is the most dominant lifeform. They exist everywhere. We are dependent on them for our digestion. They can kill us. We attempt to kill them through anti-biotics but they are learning to adapt.

They have no aging cycle, so if they can find nutrition then their lifespans are open ended. They have already been around since life began so have already outlived us by millions of years.

Originally posted by LionHearted
To an athiest, what makes us different from the animals?
nothing - we are animals
what do you do not like about it?

Humans are animals with superior information processing power. We are also capable of recognizing a great range of patterns, and are very adaptable. This combination simply allows us to dominate over all others, and gives us the power to blatantly declare ourselves "better" than animals. Personally, I see no difference between humans and animals.

Some religious people claim that humans know right from wrong. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. The line between good/evil is an artificial one, and when we start nitpicking you'll see that the border becomes VERY shady, if not nonexistent. The numerous harangues, yellings, discussions, and firefights in scifora should indicate it.

__________________________________________
There is no god, afterlife or divine love. There is only Entropy, the mother from which we were all born. She tugs our souls with the beautiful, maternal love of chaos. Why do you keep Her waiting?

first the believers claim animals have no souls
now heathens call the animals stupid

is there no end to man's arrogance?
answer me this! (dammit)


Answer: Nope! :eek:

Biologically, we are animals, but are intelligence puts us well above most others. I could understand religion when i was a 7-year-old, so I wonder if apes could. Maybe they could be taught, but they wouldn't appreciate the importance? Anyway, the main difference is probably intelligence--and IMO a spiritual side.

That'll be exciting when we see apes make fire though--kind of a scary thought! I wonder if we taught chimps to use sign language, and then released them in the wild, would they teach their offspring? Hmmm...

Originally posted by platzapS
Biologically, we are animals, but are intelligence puts us well above most others. I could understand religion when i was a 7-year-old, so I wonder if apes could. Maybe they could be taught, but they wouldn't appreciate the importance? Anyway, the main difference is probably intelligence--and IMO a spiritual side.

That'll be exciting when we see apes make fire though--kind of a scary thought! I wonder if we taught chimps to use sign language, and then released them in the wild, would they teach their offspring? Hmmm...

I think that's been tried before with no success. They learn but not pass it on.

_________________________________________
There is no god, afterlife or divine love. There is only Entropy, the mother from which we were all born. She tugs our souls with the beautiful, maternal love of chaos. Why do you keep Her waiting?

-central philosophy of Zero, Sage of Chaos

Wow, thats a good discovery. If apes can learn sign language, then pass it on, maybe later in years they can also learn to read and talk..When that happens, when they are capable of that level of intelligence, then they will be "Christianized", learning Jesus the WORD incarnate, so that they will be baptized and have a chance to meet their creator...
Yeah that will be tight, evangelizing chimps...:)

Whatsupyall, child, you're a ****ing idiot.

"eah that will be tight, evangelizing chimps..."

*Cough* i.e whatsupyall *cough cough*

When the bible was written, how smart were the authors? What level of scientific knowledge would you place them? Level 1 would be infant, level ten being scholar. Say a 3?

At the time, the belief that the Earth was the center of the universe was widely spread to put some base to "why are we here"? The man they called Jesus came as the son of a God believed to have created the universe and all that was in it. Jesus claimed to have known all that the God knew...and professed to enlighten "people" of this broader knowledge.

How come Jesus never stated that the Earth actually rotated around the sun, therefore dispelling the false God beliefs? The universe and its structure was not discovered for another 400 years.

Would it be deceit if we find that there are life forms on other planets? Why would the creator deceive Earthlings into believing this is it?