What does it mean to be human?

[zoobernut]

Dolphins have also been shown to have empathy for others as well as making complex decisions based on their feelings towards others etc. Don't underestimate the dolphins, because when you do that is when they will take over the world.

Oh and don't forget whales learning to make bubble nets to catch fish, found only in certain tribes of whales and they need to teach it to new whales and newborns it is not instinctual.

[Uzor]

Wild monkeys have been taped using sticks to get ants out of an ant hill.

With no help from human kind-- This is logical thinking.

I will use THIS item to get THESE ants out faster. Was a huge thing because it involved another species using "tools" to help them in their goal.

Well like I said. You're right, and i apoligize. I suppose i've always seen that as more of a surviving behavior that's been passed down for generations and not something every generation discovers anew, similar to the whale net thing in the post above me. I've heard of all of them before, but always seen it more as a thing they've developed over hundreds, thousands or millions of years through "survival of the fittest".

You know; since the animals with that behavior has a greater chance of survival, and as they spread it to their children eventually it will be commonly used within the entire group, and eventually the entire species.

[Airenn]

Not me, I didn't post the original -- I was just adding something I knew.

[Leva]

also atheist and a man- but lets not go into specifics

And European.

[Senoska]

This depends on how you're asking it. Do you mean how do we tell who we are, IE: Establish what we are? Or just the literal definition of things that make up humans?

Being a self consciousness is self-consciousness in relation to others. You establish who you are by who you're not. This idea of negations are fundamental to how we look at things.
For example, left cannot exist without right, and right cannot exist without left. But the difference that exists before those two terms are made is there prior to the terms being coined. But once right and left exist, you can be in the center.
Another example, White is all colors, black is no colors, red is a mixture of some colors and no colors, it is a multiplicity of that system.
Another example, every action requires an equal and opposite reaction. You cannot go forward without pushing backwards. The difference between point A and point B is the relationship between those two points, which we call movement.

Things do not inherently exist in themselves in this regard. While you have a body, that is not what makes you up. What makes you up is your language, your culture, your beliefs, all of which are defined by your relationship to others, just a multiplicity of it. You define that you are yourself, which is not the other, and from that you can have some system of beliefs. This of course is bound by the history that makes your culture up.

So to answer your question, what makes us human is our relationship with other humans and our environment in that it separates us from everything, and everyone else, but that identity is bound by the fact other things and people exist. So you are a product of your environment, but also, your environment is a product of you. All of these things operate on the fact time exists, and that you have a history as an individual.

To put this simply, humans are defined as such:
-A product of time and history
-A relationship to other people
-Culture, language, and beliefs coming out from the above

Without these things, even just having a humans body, you would not be considered human.

Name Dropping:
Zizek, Hegel, Marx, etc

[Seanr]

It's easy to think the majority of animals are stupid because we can not communicate on a 1:1 ratio, hell we already think some people are stupid when they are slightly disabled.

I really hate to link cracked articles, but they have some truth to them

http://www.cracked.com/article_18930...p-you-out.html
http://www.cracked.com/article_17453...ed-humans.html

[Hyan]

One day, as Dr. Irene was closing up the lab, Alex said goodbye by telling her to "be good." Irene replied by saying "I love you," to which Alex answered, "I love you too." He then asked: "You'll be in tomorrow?" Irene assured him that, yes, he'd see her tomorrow.
The next morning, Alex was dead.

Einstein parrot holy shit

And this is where it gets scary: the author of that article says that after she's taught her dog enough words, she plans to "place multiple words on the wall and teach him to focus on a single card through use of a laser pointer or similar device. Then, I would see if he could match words into simple sentences to tell me what he was thinking or feeling." So giving dogs access to the power of the written word isn't enough; we also have to equip them with lasers so they can express themselves.

Please succeed, I want to chitchat with my lapphund

[Maguspk]

It's sometimes hard to believe all the biological mechanisms, especially those in our brain, work in such a way with such efficiency and speed. It's like a giant Rube Goldberg machine, some of the stuff that goes on is simply amazing and you wonder how we even got to a point of it working so well. The neural network for example, found in nearly every organism is complex enough that simple functions of the most miniscule detail can be the entire focus of a man's research.

If we have to ask what is it to be human, it is to be extremely lucky and fortunate to experience life at this level and humbled by the relative meaningless of our existence. Even in the grand scheme of things, even considering all of human existence, we are not even a pixel on the radar.

[Uzor]

It's sometimes hard to believe all the biological mechanisms, especially those in our brain, work in such a way with such efficiency and speed. It's like a giant Rube Goldberg machine, some of the stuff that goes on is simply amazing and you wonder how we even got to a point of it working so well. The neural network for example, found in nearly every organism is complex enough that simple functions of the most miniscule detail can be the entire focus of a man's research.

If we have to ask what is it to be human, it is to be extremely lucky and fortunate to experience life at this level and humbled by the relative meaningless of our existence. Even in the grand scheme of things, even considering all of human existence, we are not even a pixel on the radar.

It's quite fascinating, really. Even the brain of a small fly is way more complex, advanced and in every imaginable way better than the world's best microchip. So imagine how complex and advanced the brain of a human is. I've heard that the number of possible neurological connections the brain can make is greater than the amount of atoms in the entire universe - but I don't now how much truth there is in that statement.

[BaneTheBrawler]

A very fine line that some people stray from.

[Jeryhn]

Case in point, Spock might not be human, but we would still consider it wrong to kill him despite him not being strictly human because he's a person.

As opposed to, let's say, small kittens? I see where you're going with this though.

Generally, what we consider to be quintessentially "human" is what we don't readily observe in other species. However, part of examining what makes us "human" does actually come down to physiology though - our brains are simply equipped to analyze and deal with our experiences - and scientists are currently finding more and more ways in which we are more similar to other species, both in humanistic and animalistic ways, which could suggest that to be "human" is not necessarily the exclusive domain of the human race (as a few previous posters mentioned, dolphins, etc).

Gonna go with this being the correct answer:

[Acturus]

Doesn't the phrase "being human" imply the fact that there is something special and unique about humans in the first place?

Have we established that such uniqueness exists?

[NiggaFromHarlem]

Like a few people have said, this is a highly ambiguous question. Generally the word "human" refers to our species. If that is what you meant, then we can define what a human is the same way we define what any other species is (group of organisms with similar DNA, etc.). There is also the interesting discussion of what is (possibly?) unique about humans, such as the way we use language to consciously reflect on and question our own existence, but you don't seem interested in that:

Just an addition; the question does not include anything along the lines of what makes us human in a physical sense

In terms of what a human is, there is only the physical sense. Are you referring to some sort of supernatural sense?

Based on your post, it sounds like you might be getting at the question of what constitutes a person. In that case, it should be clear that the very notion of a person is a human/social conception. Any possible answer is completely arbitrary. This is why abortion debates that boil down to the "person" issue are typically irresolvable. Two sides simply disagree as to the concept and at most can object to the inconsistency of the other side's definition, but there is still no ultimate answer.

This is one of those questions that sounds profound and intriguing but in actuality is only a complex set of issues packaged into a short and poetic but ultimately ambiguous question.

[Elvis]

To be a human means nothing, only what you do as a human can have meaning.
We can pretend to be special and above all else, but in reality we are just a short lived anomaly for nature and of zero importance to the universe.

mind blown for reals

[Myrrh_Quetz]

Being Human means to fuck, to fight, to expand.

[Omniyoji]

First thing that came to mind when I read the question was Richard Connell's short story The Most Dangerous Game. Humans having the ability to reason. Being able to control our urges and instincts. Ability to predict the outcomes of our actions several steps ahead and control ourselves accordingly.

The question tho could be answered in a number of ways.

[Xantavia]

Empathy.

And not going nuts if somebody says "Tell me about your mother"

[Yugl]

Do other mammals believe in imaginary higher powers?

Based on the Lion King, yes.

[Mojo]

child rape

[Jefe]

Regarding animals: I'd say it's more of a rudimentary skill, instinct if you will, learned through repetition and observation, rather than actual logic/reasoning.