what separates humans from other animals?

Nothing

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>>9032803
is it our ability to speak? is it our technological advancement? or is it perhaps our passion that draws the line between humans and other mammals?

ridiculous amount of social cohesion, learning power and consciousness

>>9032808
humans are surprisingly close to animal kingdom but our habitat is so much different from other habitats so there must be something that makes humans special.

civilization

>>9032803
God did.

mediterranean sea

>>9032803
literally only our enhanced working memory

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>>9032803
Nothing, for each animal is unique unto itself.

Gene expression

>>9032803
Our overdeveloped frontal cortex, allowing us to reason about the future. This way we can chose actions that only have long term benefits.

>>9032827
Kek, alsó this

>>9032803
writing

If all the gene combinations were to be realized we would be seeing an almost endless chain instead of different groups/types of beings. But i guess if you go back long enough everything is somehow related, and we are probably different in degree with the computers we are using as opposed to in kind.

This question is better suited for /philosophy/

>>9032803
Civilization

our lineage

Little different products big changes

>>9032803
just our brains, really. Basically if another species were capable of language (I mean a proper language, not just a loose system of cues that are more instinctual and cultural that we also have) then they'd be on-par with us. Of course they need bodies to really capitalise on their brain capability, many do not.

>>9032803
We craft our habitat. We create.

>>9032803

Number of genders.

>faggots continentals french pseuds
Muh feefees muh empathy
>Big Dick pussy smashin analytic
Our ability to ask questions that has a rational basis based on our consciousness and a scientific basis given that there even the smartest animals capable of basic language have never formulated a question.

>>9033094
Many primatea and other mamals create tools. Some birds also use things as complicated as bait to fish.

>>9033112
(This)

>>9033112
arent there animals that are both female and male depending on tthings

>>9032803
Arbitrarily drawn boundairies, life is one thing saying any life is different from other parts of life is abstract nonsense stemming from our symbolic conceptualization of the world
>>9032808
Fpbp
>>9032816
Wrong

>>9032803
Language, ridiculous levels of technology (compared to literally just sticks, rocks and shells), immense social cohesion (to the point that strangers teach our children) to name a few. We also wear pants.

>>9033661
Explain how that constitutes an ontological or even merelogical seperation. Those boundaries are aribtarily drawn and are non-actual. Deep ecology, and what I am currently calling "biosemiotic vitalism" are the correct postions to take given our current understanding of ecology, evolution, and theoretical life science.

>>9032803
We believe in Gods, our society is the most complex without comparison, if not the most complex thing in the known universe. We are the species that most adapt its environment to itself, not adapt itself to the environment.

Also, we invented image boards to shit post on them.

>>9033727 prove that there is a physical seperation between humans and the rest of life

>>9033661
>Language
There are birds in Australia with language.
See: Chestnut-crowned babbler

>>9033694
>biosemiotic vitalism
Care to give a small summary of what that is
Sounds intriguing to me, you have my eyes and ears

>>9033742
Agreed
>>9033740
I didn't know that; you learn something new every day, although my other three points stand.

>>9033740
It's pretty common knowledge that crows and chickens have developed unique identifier sounds for objects in their environments, but abstract thought is a little more complicated than that

>>9033738
>prove that there is a physical seperation between humans and the rest of life

Physical? I don't think there is one. Macrostructures that change the surrounding environment maybe?

>>9032803
Prefrontal lobe.

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>>9033742
here is a brief introduction to biosemiotics
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18365164
here is a book
https://e-edu.nbu.bg/pluginfile.php/319303/mod_resource/content/0/Texts_for_the_READER/Lesson_13_Favareau_History_biosemiotics.pdf

simply put my idea of biosemiotic vitalism holds that the interpretation of meaningful information from outside of the biosemiotic system that is represented in sign vessels, is the elan vital. the mechanism that allows all life to be alive. In other words, what makes life alive is the ability to interpret meaning from external and internal environmental "ques" in order to constrain entropy into work as to maintain the parameters for life and create the boundary conditions necessary for reproduction. Terrance Deacon, is doing interesting research on the emergence and functioning of this mechanism as are many others, here is a good lecture http://media.uoregon.edu/channel/archives/5936

Anyhow this conceptualization leads the rational conclusion that meaningful information (as in the genetic code or the umwelten of quasi-separate organisms and other biosemiotic systems like as in cells or ecological networks) is the connective tissue that holds all life together. With this in mind the concept of a 'single common ancestor' doesn't properly explain evolution and variation in life. Instead i take the position that life is a single entity that is effectively immortal flowing from its emergence over time and space. Like a stream flowing over an uneven surface, constraints produce novel behavior and variation in life. As life interprets these constraints and organizes itself between them, infesting every nook and cranny it gets into. biological organisms made of matter are the vessels that life uses to interpret information, but life itself is a single being existing as information.
as William James put more poetically, “We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.”
pic is how life looks

>>9033642
>implying there is even a difference between life and non-life

>>9033780
>but abstract thought is a little more complicated than that
Which I am not implying
And those birds are unlike other birds, trust me
>>9033876
Thanks, another rabbit hole to dive in and discover

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>>9033899
But there is, life is fundamentally different from all other organizations of matter, as life doesn't obey the second law of thermodynamics. As life constrains entropy into work by interpreting meaning, and maintains stable parameters by doing so. This is far from thermodynamic equilibrium, it maintains a highly entropic state. This is far from self organization by maximum entropy production aswell, as its doesn't shed out entropy, life retains entropy by giving it meaning. The mechanism we call life is unique in the universe, a higher power creating meaning and making the laws of causality it's bitch.

>>9033938
>life doesn't obey the second law of thermodynamics
you utter fool

opposable thumbs
bipedalism
big brains
our skin
communication/speaking skills (that set us apart from Neanderthals)
etc

I would just say speech

>>9033938
>as life doesn't obey the second law of thermodynamics

Sorry, but I stopped reading there.

>>9033876

Kind of Hegelian.

High thermal adaptability
Language
Tools

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>>9033876
>post yfw scientism stumbles onto the logos

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>>9033941
>>9034010
forgive me if i still sound retarded after this post. im what you might call a brainlet, i never took the time to learn math. so i only understand theoretical science on a conceptual level. I was never into physics at all until theoretical bio, so i have a glanced over Wikipedia understanding of thermodynamics.
anyways this is what i believe the cutting edge of biology is

first you need to consider what i conceive life to be here>>9033876, note that:(see bottom)

lets do a simple thought experiment .
>imagine life when it first emerged at the cellular level
>now imagine life today
Is that trending towards thermodynamic equilibrium?
no, its the opposite.
Life tends towards maximum complexity. Life turns entropy into enthalpy by giving it meaning and using it to maintain a state far from thermodynamic equilibrium.
while it is true that if you abstracted life as a closed system, that system would eventually begin to trend towards thermodynamic equilibrium. BUT something has to happen first. the system would have to run out of energy I.e die. How can life die? it exists as information and isnt bound to the physical, it reproduces and grows in complexity as constraints are remembered and interpreted into biosemiotic code. Life is an abstract entity with the awesome ability to possess the concrete.

>i consider life to be an actual abstract entity composed of information
>what makes this information special is it caries meaning
>meaning that is represented in the physical world
>this allows for physical beings to emerge from the meaning life caries(auto-catalysis biosemiosis)
>these beings are capable of interpreting information and grow the information life knows

>>9034166
>>9034010
>>9033941

also
life flips the laws of causality on its head
>instead of shedding out entropy to maintain a state far from thermodynamic equilibrium, life enslaves entropy by interpreting meaning from it and using it to live, and develop.
>Because of this life does not trend towards thermodynamic equilibrium, instead it becomes increasingly complex and asymmetrical.

>>9033122
They don't make them though. They find them. They rely on the environment. We can live under water and in space. Not that difficult to understand the leap

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>>9034043
>mfw logic is the formal semiotic

>>9032803
Well, we create such a large groups, we start to look more like insect colony than animals. Thats one of the distinctions i could think of.

Zoning laws

porn

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>>9032803 >>9032827 >>9032863 >>9034854

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DdWXc_cxxs

>>9032803
Our intelligence. Our languages and concepts within those languages. Our more intelligent problem solving abilities, and our ability to create advanced tools. Our intelligence and tool-creating/using abilities combined with our size, speed, strength, numbers(teamwork) etc. has put us at the top.

A big one is our ability to make and use very useful tools. You look at monkeys and apes- they can use sticks and rocks but thats about it. They dont have the intelligence to make a spear or a bow and arrow. Ive seen a picture of an orangutan using a stick to measure the depth of a river though, which seems pretty intelligent but they are nowhere near the intelligence of the average human.

>>9032803
Culture

Humans are the only animals to have wars

>>9035199
never seen an ant war?

>>9035197
Read Eva Jablonka.
>>9035199
Chimpanzees and - I think - wolfs are confirmed for waging war
There was some stories about species of baboons waging war too

>>9035136
>>9035130
>>9034200
This arbitrary requirement of making tools is shit because it fails to realise that the other apes generslly don't need to make tools. They're stronger than us, faster than is for short distances, and just don't need to make tools because they're born with everything they need. So, all you know is that the other apes don't make tools, but that doesn't mean they can't make tools - it means there is no demand for them to make (complex) tools.

>>9032810
Other animals can speak though

Speech, thumbs, usually our brains and intelligence.
Also, the way we develop societies is pretty unique as well.

>>9036151
>Also, the way we develop societies is pretty unique as well.
Not so much from a complex systems perspective, and we share a dominance hierarchy with animals

We have arms.

We work our asses off for pieces of paper in order to eat and fuck. Animals just eat and fuck.

>>9032803
Humans ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

the atlantic ocean

>>9032816
>humans are surprisingly close to animal kingdom but our habitat is so much different from other habitats so there must be something that makes humans special.

not really, for most of human history it was the same shit

>>9036628
We might share alot with them but how m7ch do they shit with ud

>>9034854
It's interesting how both the left and right turned on this narrative recently, but for the inverse reasons.

>>9037153
It was the tree of knowledge, dumbass.

>>9032808
Clearly something does. Humans do a lot of things that nothing else does and are kind of BTFOing the whole animal kingdom right now.

>>9032803
the internet

>>9032803
The rational brain. Sad this place is retarded.

>>9032803
we depend more on nurture than our brothers the chimps, and some of our brain functions are unga bunga me strong tier

>>9032816
what is our habitat? i'd have to be somewhere we could live naked 24/7 I think

>>9032847
Hur dur I am stmart

>>9032803
There is no single cognitive ability that humans have that cannot be found in some measure in other species. However, we far outcompete these species due to our oversized brains, allowing for far greater complexity in thought.

>>9033727
>our society is the most complex without comparison
Ant society is more complex

>>9037419
>The rational brain.
Never heard about cognitive biases huh?
Reason would have been a better choice.

>>9032817
this, let me phrase it from a different perspective:

The ability to replicate memes, be it through language or signs. All other animals replicate only genes, except for the few exceptions that replicate memes but are very bad at it (ravens, dolphins, apes).

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>>9032803
>what separates humans from other animals?

>>9032827
The North–South divide
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North–South_divide

Europe, Canada, US, Australia & New Zealand are mostly Human.

Japan is Honorary Human.

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>>9038260 >>9032827
Adolf Hitler Said in 1936

>Pride in one's own race – and that does not imply contempt for other races – is also a normal and healthy sentiment. I have never regarded the Chinese or the Japanese as being inferior to ourselves. They belong to ancient civilizations, and I admit freely that their past history is superior to our own. They have the right to be proud of their past, just as we have the right to be proud of the civilization to which we belong. Indeed, I believe the more steadfast the Chinese and the Japanese remain in their pride of race, the easier I shall find it to get on with them.

>Source
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorary_Aryan#To_the_Chinese_and_Japanese

>>9038260
Why North Korea is Red while South Korea is Blue if they are the same race with the same language and history up to 60 years ago?

We know we exist and that we will die someday. Also, we can predict the future.

>>9032803
evolution

>>9032803
The fact that "other animals" are separate from each other and not some single monolithic entity standing with each other against us.

The Mediterranean Sea

>>9039343
The Atlantic Ocean

>>9032803
culture and technology, gettyimagefag

>>9037832
I think the good word for that is "nous".

>>9034194
>>9033941

Guys, calm down...

Flows of energy through open systems tend to drive them to states of higher organisation.

This does not violate the second law, as gravitationally-bound systems have anti-thermodynamic properties which permit a sort of compensatory energy balance and therefore allow for the development of a large number of heterogeneous states.

Essentially, adaptive and intelligent behaviour may be viewed as a naturally occurring non-equilibrium process, facilitated by the anti-thermodynamic nature of gravitationally bound systems.

>>9037393
We just got lucky

None of it would happen if not for opposable thumbs

>>9032808
Capabilities of projecting comfier societies.

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>>9032803
What separates humans from other animals?

>>9032827 >>9039343
>The Mediterranean Sea

Now They cross the Mediterranean Sea with boats.

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>>9041555
My point was life does not adhere to the second law because it is not a thermodynamic system. Exhibiting downward causality and product of complex realization.
The anti-thremodynamic properties of gravitationally bound systems surely had something to do with the emergence of life, but life plays by its own rules.

>>9032810
>>9032803
Almost sounded exactly like the opening to a Condensed Matter Physics documentary on YouTube