What seperates man from anything else?

Ok, this is true.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree then

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NO!
If you are going to compare us to robots, they have to be a living thing.
I learned this in grade school but there are a few prerequisites for something to be alive:
-they have to grow
-they have to reproduce*

*robots cannot reproduce like we do...and no, robots manufacturing other robots do not count as reproduction.

 

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So say we all !

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Uhhhh, how can you possibly disagree with me answering the OP as it is asked?
That is not arguable. Are you now going to try to argue with me that 2+2 isn't 4?

And I like how you didn't provide any examples of any other animals that have a verbal AND written language. :shrug:

 

That was my example if I'm not mistaken.
I just ascribe them to culture and you ascribe them to intelligence + capability.

Mike, you need to calm down. I don't think you're interpreting our disagreement accurately.

 

Well why can't we go on my suggestion of a combination of things and just say it's all of them that separate humans from other animals?
Chimps have more than one tangible that makes them unique. They are almost as smart as us, but much, much stronger than us physically, and they have opposable toes (why the hell didn't evolution give that to us too?).
Example, a 100lb chimp could probably give a healthy rugby player a run for their money, if not totally kick their ass if they and a chimp got into a fight.

I may be. But like I've said, it's difficult sometimes to interpret stuff on an internet forum.

 

We shave.

 

Well, culture is a collection of things really. You'll need a lot of additional properties in order to have it, including sufficient intelligence of course.
The major difference between culture and just intelligence + capability is that one person cannot have culture, it's the entire group (the entire species or a subset) working together to create their culture. And therein lies its strength.

By the way, capability is also not a single defined property. Perhaps, we are more in agreement then we think.

Exactly. This was one of my first points in the thread. The problem is that we are solely arguing from our own point of view.
Any other creature could have said the same as we do about its species. They could all consider themselves superior to the rest because of unique capabilities.

True, of course. You can count on me to be honest though, and I'll never try to piss you off.

 

You don't think that the social-pack oriented wolves don't have some sort of their own culture (as primitive as it may be to us)? A pride of lions?

I know. That's why I said physical capability.

True, all animals have some awesome unique capability. But it was the conglomeration of all of the attributes we've discussed that separate humans from the rest.

It's cool.

 

Not a knowledge-based one.

Fair enough.

As do the conglomeration of all of the attributes of any other species set them apart.

Cool

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we are pretty different from other species. anyone who denies that is just lying to himself.

show me a species that has accomplished: complex language, complex tools, instruments, history, culture, internet, cities, space exploration...

to some extent we are very different, however, biologically, its true that we are more of the same.

There is no doubt in my mind that if some alien intelligent species was observing our planet from another galaxy, we would stand out compared to the bears and whales that live amongst us.

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Let's go local. What about swine flu? Will humanity also stand out compared to the bear and whales? :shrug:

Btw, I've just watched the live press conference of the W.H.O in Geneva on TV a couple of hours ago, they've just raised the alert over swine flu to level 5 pandemic.

 

Space and time.

 

our foolishness.

 

Pandemics hardly ever occur in nature (if at all), we've cultivated ourselves.

 

Yes, we would stand out as a global pest. The most important feature of the human race is all year round reproduction and artificial resistance against bacterial and viral infection.

 

They are doing remarkably well, at least they were before we came along - if their beliefs are not also with some frequency knowledge.

 

Is there something which made it possible for us to develop tool use and socialization? What caused our intellect to be different from animals? What quality of that intellect makes us different?

 

I suspect it can be attributed to our 'public intellect'.

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How about our self destruction. Do animals piss where they eat? Do they commit suicide?