Difference between man and animal

I would like a good meaty pleasant discussion, about what you feel separates the humans from the animals, or if there is one.

One thought I had, was the difference between instinctual action, vs. planning multiple outcomes before hand.

A mouse sees cheese, the mouse runs for the cheese to eat it.

A Man sees a steak, does he buy it? Does he steal it? What are the possible consequences of both? This is planning out the possible outcomes.

Anyone Else have some thoughts on the differences between man and animal?

-ADHDsux4me

Humans are animals. There is no difference expect for what we claim, which means nothing.

We can make this:


Which makes us both more human and more animal at the same time.

I have thought about these before,... even tho man is an animal.

The position of man's eye's in the front of his face instead of the sides,... puts him in the predator category of animals.

And all animals exhibit the hunter/hunted/survival capacities, as well as fear and aggression.

Difference????
One kills with no regard or need, the other kills for necessity....

There are a few differences - but most importantly - conscience and a belief in a creator (the majority of mankind)

why do my dogs sense danger before I do?

Why are they a better judge of character than I am?

How do they know when I'm "not feeling well"? And they know what to do about it, too. They sit with me.

How do cockroaches know when I'm looking at them?

How come--for all the time I lived in the woods--I never SAW a snake in the wild?

They have a sixth sense, just as some humans do.

Maybe we would all do well to cultivate that sixth sense; and maybe then we'd get along better, humans among humans.

humans are animals.

every animal, every organism, exists soley to reproduce. at the fundamental level, there is nothing differentiating us from a bacterium.

evolution has been kind to us. we have evolved a series of advantages, like intelligence, curiosity, thought, that help us to reproduce. art, money, govt, buildings, language, guns, all of these, everything weve ever created has been to reproduce. we have come so far along this path, and it has worked so well for us, that we often lose sight of that fact.

that isnt to say that we shud just go around having sex, thats it. thats boring. we are lucky enough that we can actually enjoy our time on this planet. we are even luckier that we can work to make the entire population's time on this planet better and more fruitful. THAT is what we should be doing with our lives, and that justifies all we do.

when a man sees a steak, and buys it, he has satiated his hunger. everyone/thing needs to 'eat' to sustain itself. without food he can never reproduce. now, as a man, he also has money to contend with. money can mean rent, which means a house, which most women require in order to reproduce. money is a sign of your ability. so, the man has a choice. does he buy everything he sees and wants, or does he spend wisely, thus increasing his chances of success in life? he usually choses the latter. this is where the problem of drugs comes into play. your body becomes so overwhelmed with the need and desire for them that you lose sight and control of the rest of the world and life. you become the mouse, except the cheese is poisoned and you cant stop.

one of the main differences between 'us and them' is our creativity, our imagination. the ability to see things not only for what they are, but for they could be, is what has allowed us to dominate this planet. animals see a burning stick, they know it hurts to touch and they avoid it. man sees a burning stick, he knows it hurts to touch, but he also knows that if he holds where it doesnt hurt, he can stay warm, cook food, and defend himself from predators.

emily, ive seen dozens of snakes in the woods. animals can do many many things we cant for the same reason we can do many many things they cant. we cant smell blood miles and miles away; they cant discuss the consequences of a global economy. we cant feel an earthquake ahead of time; they cant build and operate a seismometer. the dogs sensing danger is smell and hearing. their better judge of character probably is due mostly to how you perceive yourself, but also to the fact that their lives are comparably much simpler. cockroaches know you are there the whole time, you jsut dont see them until you look at them.

Originally posted by Mynaeris
There are a few differences - but most importantly - conscience

How do you define conscience? Unless you mean consciousness and thats even harder to define. I have seen a mother Cat go into a burning building to save her litter regarless of the burns the Cat recieved. I'm sure we've all heard stories of Dolphins rescuing drowning swimmers or protecting Humans from sharks etc. That smells of both conscience, consciousness, emotionalism and even sympathy.

Okay. But my dog is--aware.

And that makes her quite an interesting animal.

I laughingly call her, "a person in a dog-suit."

I hate to get all new agey and this is not something I will normally confess to but during channelings I have been told that dogs and water mammals are evolving to the third density.

However addressing the concept of current consciousness and conscience - humans are the only animals that have the ability to retain a sense of guilt for years post factum.

Not only do they know how tO DISPLAY Guilt--

any bitch knows how to COWER in shame--

but my dogs know how--with perfect replicability--

to make ME FEEL GUILTY.

All I have to do is--

"not give them a bite of it,"

"go out without taking them,"

"chase them off the couch/bed/chair etc."

or pet someone else's dog.

Originally posted by Emily_Cragg
Not only do they know how tO DISPLAY Guilt--

any bitch knows how to COWER in shame--

but my dogs know how--with perfect replicability--

to make ME FEEL GUILTY.

All I have to do is--

"not give them a bite of it,"

"go out without taking them,"

"chase them off the couch/bed/chair etc."

or pet someone else's dog.

As much as it appears that way, its anthropmorphising Emily. Attributing human expression/emotion to animals. Thats not to say Animals arnt capable of a range of emotions like us, I dont know, but remember you judge from a human perspective, you can do no other, so your perspective is "colored". I would have said the difference is self awareness, but its been shown that chimps are capable of identifying themselves ! Elephants appear to express greif, etc, as do orangs, gorillas. Dolphins are credited with human like intelligence.Even an octopus can solve puzzels! I think what really differentiates us from any other species is we know right from wrong and make choices! The behaviour of any species on earth is entirely "natural" its instinctive, its survival. our behaviour is the result of choice at any given moment. What is that "element" of choice? how is it defined? A larger brain has been proven a poor argument for it already.
Some call this mystry "element" free will. But how do define free will, what exactly makes that possible. If darwin is right, at what point did this "element" come about? perhaps experiment during play, learning from cause an effect.?
An early hominid, is playfully tossing a stick about, at some point he throws it higher than before, the stick throws up dust when it lands. This surprises him, he throws it a few more times, eventually he learns to throw it high makes the dusty impact. He is amusing himself, getting excited with this, throwing it higher n higher, on one throw it goes too high and hits another hominid on the head. He has discovered the first weapon. But will his offspring know this? does he retain what he learns? Perhaps memory is our mystery "element"??? rather refined recall. Whats different in how you or I recall information than say a turtle recalls how to get to the beach where it was hatches in order to lay. or an elephant remembers where to find water? how does a chimp remember which can hides the treat etc.
Something about the way we store information? where exactly do we store our memories anyway? no morgue technition ever found a "life story" during an autopsy! We get closer, perhaps no other species has the same storage capacity? perhaps our memory "chip" is unique?


[edit on 27-11-2004 by instar]

But I hold another view: some animals are smarter than some humans.

Some humans allow themselves to be dumbed-down until they are dumber than natural animals.

And the problem is, there's no way to tell from the exterior of a person, if he or she has any cultivated senses or wisdom OR NOT--

until that person opens his mouth. And then, "out of the mouth the abundance of the heart speaks."

"Garbage in, garbage out," is another way of putting that.

I think its a matter of perception Em, "perception being the key word.. man perceives the world through the eyes of man/mind of man, likewise a snake perceives the world in its own way. This is the gulf invisible. Unable to perceive the same way ,we can see only difference, we cannot test, probe and "prove". Without this "tool" of perception how can we really assume superiority. The fact we build, create etc is within our perception of intelligence, sentience. Imagine if you experience perception through the "mind" of a dog! How limited we are in this respect, behind our human tinted glasses! Perhaps each other species assumes itself sentient alone.
What does a monkey care about the inexplicable behaviour of humans, for instance, or any other species. There must be a reason beyond physical senses that we do not share perception. what are your thoughts?

Originally posted by Emily_Cragg
But I hold another view: some animals are smarter than some humans.

Some humans allow themselves to be dumbed-down until they are dumber than natural animals.

does someone who refuses other points of view, who refuses to accept something when pure, inarguable fact is presented to them, are they proving themselves 'stupider' than animals?

laughingly, i would say yes. seriously, i would say no. that person, while i can easily, and would, classify them as stupid, is only stupid in comparison. you put that person up to any test of intelligence, true intelligence, against an animal and they will win. its very hard to compare human and animal intelligence because of the disconnect i mentioned. we think in our terms, they in theirs. they might have trouble programming a computer, but when was the last time you found it in you to chase down a gazelle and crush it with your jaws?

i hold another view. if you want to compare the two, quantitatively, prepare for a long haul. if you want to see which, really, is more intelligent, qualitatively, you will see that humans are always smart than animals. excluding, of course, special cases (severely retarded or diseased people, those in comas, etc).

I urge you all to try to see this "Why Dogs Smile And Chimpanzees Cry", I think it is a Discovery Channel production. It is very insightful.

The two big differences between animals and humans are:

1) consiousness; humans can think that they are thinking. That's 2nd level intelligence.

2) speech. That humans can talk really gives them the advantage to co-operate and ...beat the crap out of the environment.

Originally posted by masterp
The two big differences between animals and humans are:

1) consiousness; humans can think that they are thinking. That's 2nd level intelligence.

2) speech. That humans can talk really gives them the advantage to co-operate and ...beat the crap out of the environment.

1. How do you know that some animals know they are thinking, dolphins for intance reconize themselves in a mirror and if you put a mark on them they will use the mirror to check out the mark its been done.

2. Whales and Dolphins can comunicate over vast distances and some whale can even hold half a dozen conversation AT THE SAME TIME. What does that say? Chimps can learn sign language to a certain extent as well.

Originally posted by masterp
The two big differences between animals and humans are:

1) consiousness; humans can think that they are thinking. That's 2nd level intelligence.

2) speech. That humans can talk really gives them the advantage to co-operate and ...beat the crap out of the environment.

You don't think animals have speech? So much for thinking when you think.