Why are humans more advanced than other animals?
I've been struggling with this question for some time now. A member of my family and I recently got into a debate about what is natural and what is unnatural. They are Christian so their opinion was "naturally" a warped one, but it got me thinking nonetheless.
I think that what separates us from other animals is fairly straightforward from a cognitive and technological perspective, but no one, not even the omniscient Google, has been able to give me an answer as to WHY this is the case.
Why are humans more technologically and cognitively advanced than other animals? Why are we the dominant species on this planet? Are we more evolved than other animals? If so, why have we seemed to evolve further (and faster?) than others?
On a less scientific note, do you envision a world where humans de-evolve or stagnate in their evolution allowing a new dominant species to take over?
Bob MacVay
As previously mentioned, the question "why us" from philosophical standpoint is as difficult to answer as any. I think the answer is obviously a result of mutations along the evolutionary chain and an article from Time magizne may shed some light on the "why" and "when" aspect from a scientific standpoint. A team lead by a genetist by the name of Paabo announced that a human version of a gene called FOXP2, which plays a role in our ability to develop speech and language, evolved within the past 200,000 years-after anatomically modern humans first appeared. By comparing the protien coded by the human FOXP2 gene with the same protien in the various great apes and in mice they discovered that the amino acid sequence that makes up the human variant differs from that of the chimp in just two locations out of a total of 715 - an extrodonarly small change that nevertheless may explain the emergenance of all aspects of human speech. It was also discovered that humans with a defective FOXP2 gene have trouble articulating words and understanding grammar.
Aug 5, 2012
Revels_In_Reason
I was trying to think of a clever metaphor to help explain my line of thought, but I keep reverting to when theists ask me what 'The meaning of life' is... It's whatever I want it to be.
I am more grateful for the ability to contemplate 'meaning' or the 'whys' of my existence, it seems to me 'Why?' is a step in the natural progression of reason in the search for meaning. 'Meaning' is a non-sequitur in a non-goal oriented existence. We are merely one step, one moment, one picture, one breath.
Aug 5, 2012
Unseen
That we are more advanced than other animals is just an opinion, and to make matters worse, it's an opinion held by those who can be expected to have a speciesist bias.
Aug 5, 2012