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Position:Home>Philosophy> Scary thought...are we human animals?Question:We have created artifical world of language, commerce, economy etc. When ever i look myself in mirror, i look like any another animal with nose, eyes, head etc. Luckily or unluckily, i have got gray matter in brain which i can use to create more goods and services- The artifical world. Isn't it scary to think about it- We are just like any other normal animal and using our intelligence we have created houses, computer, trains, planes, money etc. Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: We have created artifical world of language, commerce, economy etc. When ever i look myself in mirror, i look like any another animal with nose, eyes, head etc. Luckily or unluckily, i have got gray matter in brain which i can use to create more goods and services- The artifical world. Isn't it scary to think about it- We are just like any other normal animal and using our intelligence we have created houses, computer, trains, planes, money etc. I think you've touched on one of the underlying reasons many people are emotionally opposed to the concept of evolution. Evolution drives home the point that yes, we humans ARE animals just like all the rest. We are indeed clever little hairless apes though. But then again, we wouldn't be here if we weren't. In the animal kingdom, humans are rather weak creatures. We don't have tough hide to protect us, we run slower than most animals, and we really don't have that much muscle strength either. On the African plains, our human ancestors were pretty easy pickings for predators. To compensate for all these weaknesses, we evolved bigger brains which made us clever enough to outsmart both our predators and our prey. We became tool makers, and developed communication to pass knowledge from one person to another. These two breakthroughs gave us a huge advantage over the other animals, more than enough to compensate for our physical deficiencies. As a result, intelligence was strongly selected for, and over time we grew more and more intelligent. One implication of this is that humans today are not the end-all and be-all of evolution. Over tens of thousands of years, we will continue to grow more naturally intelligent. People in the distant future will regard us today the same way we people of today regard Cro-magnons and Neanderthals. Our distant descendants will be more rational than we are and capable of deeper levels of thought. Unless, of course, we grow clever enough to bypass natural evolution, and use science & technology to bootstrap our intellectual evolution on an exponentially faster timescale.... nice question/nice answer Report It * You must be logged into Answers to add comments. Sign in or Register. Other Answers (10) |