humans vs animals

could someone explain to me how we are the smartest creatures on earth? Animal's main goals are to stay alive and instinct tells them to care about the generations ahead of them. the strongest mate with eachother and the species as a whole grows stronger. alligators (or crocodiles) have some how managed to remain in existence since the dinosaurs. why aren't they the smartest creatures alive? dont get me wrong, if in a few years we figure out how to save the planet, or relocate than i take this all back. and are we still getting smarter? Scientists say we've come to an evelutionary standstill. we keep our weakest alive. we keep depending on braces to fix out teeth, and glasses and contacts for out eyes, meanwhile our kids are getting more crooked teeth, and worse eyesight. we're going backwards.

maybe your answer is we're better because we have more elaborate feelings. some people believe animals have no feelings at all, and others disagree. well sure, we have more elaborate feelings, some of us choose our g/f or b/f, husbands or wives for their personality not their looks. but along with that, we have greed, and hatred, wars for no reason.

Some people say animals lives aren't meaningful because they live off instinct. well which is better, living off instinct and living naturally, with main priorities being to make future generations stronger, or main priorities being money and possesions?

maybe we're the smart ones for insuring out food supply by breeding and practically growing lievstock for food, and for slowly killing off all other animals so they'll never get as smart as us

i once asked my brother what would happen if monkeys started talking, and we had another animal almost as smart as us to communicate with. and he said, we would most likely end up killing them before they got too smart, because we would be afraid. which is what started me thinking about how stupid the human species is.

looking forward to any comments....

 

Because a smart alligator doesn't really have much (any?) advantage over a stupid alligator. Intelligence is just one of many characteristics that can improve survival; it just happened to be the most beneficial one for the primates that evolved into humans.

We may or may not have come to a BIOLOGICAL evolutionary standstill since our society is changing much faster than our gene pool is. However, we will continue to "evolve" (become better as a species) through our technology, and at a greatly accelerated pace.

Why does one have to be "better" than the other? The fact is that humans have more developed brains than other animals, and therefore DO have more elaborate feelings. We also have some of the simpler emotions that you mentioned (greed, hatred) but most animals have those too. Even those emotions are more complex in humans than in animals.

Artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence within the next couple decades. I definitely DON'T think we'll kill it off because we're threatened (nor will we even be able to). Once AI becomes widespread, I expect that artificial forms of intelligence will be welcomed into our society and granted civil rights.

You're right that at first, some people might feel threatened by another intelligent "species." But I don't think it would take long for most people to adjust to the idea.

 

umm...were not going backwards. we developed braces and glasses to help people, but that doesnt mean that more babies are born with those problems.

and why would we kill off animals so they wouldnt be as smart as us? were killing chickens because we think that theyre one day going to be smarter? i dont think so. monkeys and dolphins would have been long gone if that was the case.

 

th e thing is more are, by helping them we make it so that the weak phenotype is hidden or mitigated, the weak beings are more likely to find mates and thus increase the number of people with their imperfection, we also save people from genetic disorders and help them to breed at a cost, we perpetuate weakness, we are thinning our blood, Eventually we may be able to fix these weaknesses that we have forced into ourselves (biology is an amazing science) but may is in there and more physical disorders and disabilities happen, I'm an example, my mother has hypothyroidism and my father has cerebral palsy, when we get a medical form we check every box but TB, I'm epileptic, autistic, have flat feet and am athsmatic, I would have to breed with someone who was genetilally perfect to not have messed up children

First hand experience, maybe neitzche had an okay idea

 

im not saying that we're killing animals so they dont get smarter than us. im saying we're slowly killing off animals (destoying rainforest/pollution) and as a result animals wont have enough time to evolve over time and become smarter. plus i think the amount of chickens is going up, not down, because we breed them for food.

thanks for all your thoughts. i realize not everything i was saying made sense or was correct but thats why i posted it, to get some other points of view

 

Well the easiest and most obvious reason why we are superior to animals, although not as intelligent as some, is because of our ability to invent. Animals can only learn by instruction and teaching.

 

the only way people learn is through instruction and teaching...

we have to teach our kids to walk, they dont do it on their owns, we have to teach language, everything has to be retaught to the new generation.

Humans dont really have instinct anymore thast why a baby is so helpless.

Ive always wondered this too, if its really survival of the fittest we should have died out a long time ago because of how we are like prone to diseases and stuff. We really dont have much of a natural defense system, ex. fangs, claws, or a shell. Its neat to think about. And I know I am probably gonna get attacked on all of this by people one paragraph at a time. Oh well, hahaha.

 

You're right that humans have very few natural instincts...However, I must disagree that people only learn through instruction and teaching. If that were true, civilization would never have evolved into the (relatively) enlightened state it is today. We're capable of discovering new things for ourselves and applying that knowledge; this is one thing that sets us apart from most other animals.

 

yeah, one person discovers something new and TEACHES it to everyone else


a bee finds a new field of flowers and TEACHES the others where it is


a monkey learns a new game that all the other monkeys like, they TEACH the other monkeys

 

Humanity is no better than the smallest fungi growing underneath their the stairway, or the great trees of the forest sprouting up towards the sun. We have evolved greatly, we have the ability of invention, perhaps one of our greatest traits - one that has allowed us to survive and be "fittest", if you want to put it Darwin's way.

Our knowledge and mental capacity to manipulate, invent and change the environment, understand it, is amazing. However, we have one major flaw, which is -not- genetic at all. It's a particular idea that is taught to each generation from the last. The idea that man is the greatest. The idea that man can do whatever he wishes to the planet.

It is true that many are aware this is not the case, but it is also true that either many don't care or don't realize it either. Why? Because of what the society we have created teaches us. We're stormed with media, stormed with capitalism and work, money, jobs. We lock up our 'food', (money, house, actual food, etc) and are forced to work for it. Many people, from my own experience, simply do not have the time to wonder about what their cars are doing to the atmosphere, or how the rainforests are being slashed and burned, irreversably becoming a useless dirt patch. That's right... Rainforests don't grow back. The Sun makes the area too dry and the delicate balance that once held together such a luscious environment is dried up. Rainforests in South America are being eaten away by oil companies as we speak. Patches of forest being cleared away to suck up the oil - pushing natives out of their ancient homelands and further weakening the ecoystem.

It's something we all learned in middle school, high school, etc.... The Ecosystem's delicate balance. Here is a basic example: The frog needs the insects to eat. When the frog is killed off because the water holds toxins, or the pond simply evaporates, its species in that area is gone. No pond to lay eggs for future frogs, no frogs to lay future eggs. So that species is gone. Once the frog is gone, the insects multiply in great numbers, consuming all of their food, let's say another type of bug. Since they devour all of those bugs, or most of them... The plants bug #2 lived on and helped protect will be devoured by other bugs. The entire system collapses. Like a pyramid.. Every brick counts. Even the smallest, most insignifcant brick at the bottom.

Do you know how many species are becoming extinct today? Hundreds of thousands. Look it up for yourself. It may be more. Many of these species are insects living in the rain forest... But I'm sure you're aware of some of the others that are nearing the vanishing point: Gorrillas, whales, panda bears, buffalo (though they are recovering thankfully). Do you know the gorrilla's only natural enemy is the human?

Nature is a beautiful balance, beyond the duality of right and wrong. It simply is, and there are aspects of it that keep it flourishing. It isn't a 'survival of the fittest' attitude, nor a savage, wild place. Please try to see that. Also, try to see that humanity did not always live like we do, now. In ancient times, and still today (with the remnants who have not been assimilated into the capitalist culture) there were people who understood their place in nature and lived accordingly (Countless tribes, even ancient civilizations). Perhaps we should look back at those times, not to de-culturalize ourselves, but to learn valuable lessons in how to change and grow into a better society.

You say that we cannot go back to living as tribes? That is true. Very unrealistic too. But their living was successful, ours obviously is self destructive. We are inventors, are we not? So we'll invent a way that is in accordance to modern conditions. We can do this. And perhaps we can start by teaching our generation new things, new truths about the world we live in.

As you can see, mankind needs to learn one very important lesson. We have great gifts, but unless we tend to the garden we grew from and are still a part of, we will destroy the garden, and destroy ourselves - because, ultimately, we are not exempt from the laws of nature.

 

If we only learn through instruction and teaching, then how do you think the things we are taught came about? Language? Math, science?
I've seen nothing to prove that it isn't survival of the fittest... Just fitness is not limited to physical strength. Intelligence and creativity is a natural defense imo.

 

What we know was learned by someone else slowly over time. I dont know exactly how to explain it but think about it, ur not born with all this knowledge it has to be taught to u, the real good thing humans have is the good memory and ability to teach others.

its like technology is exponential in growth, nothing changed much in the stone age, then things got a little better when someone decided to move some plants around and grow them together, then he taught other people that. then it slowly started rising until the industrial revolution, and then now its like boooooooooooooooooooooom.

Maybe it is survival of the fittest?

but its neat to think about where we are now and where we were 500 years ago.

 

Id say we're the best or viruses. Were the only ones that have spread right round the globe and can wipe anything else out. I rekon a big battle between us a viruses would sort the men from the boys. But nothing else stands a chance.

Though if its pure hardness I want to see a shark fight a polar bear apart form being funny I rekon their both pretty hard. Giant pands should go in their as well, all they do is prove god has a sense of humour, anything that you can put in the same cage and it doesnt breed deserves to be extinct.

Also thinking about humans and intelligence the world seems to be run by a very few people. Stand inthe street and ask a people how everyday household equipment works TV, microwave, fridge something like that and see how many people know the answer. Then try a typewrite or a car or an early aeroplane or even a sewing machine. I think you might find yurself going back about 200 years before most people could explain how it worked.

 

I kinda see two ways about this. While I believe that humans are basically parasites to the earth, I also believe that we are, not superior, but just very different from most animal species. We are definantly very complex. To me, comparing humans and animals is like comparing a kiwi to a green car. One is not more superior than the other, only one is more complex in the sense of it's functioning. But then again, the kiwi might be smaller and less able to "do " things...if you're starving, what good will the car do? Basically, in my twisted logic, I'm trying to say is that complexity does not equal superiority. Of course, the definition of "superior" is relative.

 

Surely comparing humans to other species is a relevant question. In what way is superiour relative? Superior is all albout being top of the pile. I think you have to use some fairly obtuse arguments like we're destroying our own planet, to argue taht we arent near the top. Its true that intelligence isnt what makes us near the top but its helped. Its how we've spread round the planet and put ourself in a position that means we have to fear comparatively few species that makes us near the top. I see our only real competition as viruses. I think most other thing will be swiftly beaten down if they had a ago. Though ultimately we're probably our own worst enemy.

 

We are the smartest animals in the world. The key word there is "animals". We are not the smartest creatures on the world or are we? I think that single cell organisms are the most genius things ever to come into existance. They designed the human body and built it. All the human body is is billions of single cell organisms attached to eachother preforming different roles make a multiple cell organism.

Edit: I wanted to add something. The reasons humans are so prone to disease is that we are overpopulated. Along time ago there was less diseases because humans weren't overpopulating the earth. The purpose of diseases is to kill off some of the population.

 

Dont think we're more diseased than any other species. Our complexity makes us more suceptable to cancer but thats about it. Although it is true that given our population size when a disease takes hold it kills more. This is more to do with genetic variation, if a disease will kill 1% of victims then more peopl will die in a population of 6 billion than 1 million.

 

Umm...no.

Umm...no.

 

i read somewhere that humans are actually growing by the decade or a certain time period in the amount of their brain they use, or the capacity for information, or both possibly. i also remember reading some historical account that humans have only evolved when they lived with nature, like apart of it as opposed to hiding inside of a bunch of walls most of the time and not ever hunting or gathering? dont know how valid these arguments are but there might be something to it...