Poll: "What are you people, animals?!"

[shroomz]

I see it like this: we are, like it or not, animals. That is by the scientific definition since we're not plants, bacteria or fungi.

I see your point TheNamelessGuy, and so i propose an experiment: go into a club on a friday night and look at how the "people" are behaving. Then watch an episode of Monkey Business (or something like that) on Animal Planet. I see us as being animals because our behaviour is just a dressed up version of: mate, feed, repeat.

The only real difference is that sometimes we're not satisfied with that and try to do something different.

Just my 2pence' worth

 

[Metalbiogearsofduty]

We are animals by definition but the word is more popular in use for life other than humans (and plants of course.)
Mankind's advances shouldn't be discounted in comparison to other lifeforms, as amazing as animals are, the achievements of the human race do draw a line between us and the other creatures who populate this planet but no matter how much we progress we are still animals, we came from the same pot of soup as the other animals, still driven by (maybe not so much as others) our base desires and instincts and we are still mortal.
We are most unique animals, but still animals at the end of the day.

oh by the way, i didn't open my mouth to communicate any of that.

 

[ninjapenguin981]

Most humans are animals, but some are also vegetables.

And some are even minerals!

 

[shroomz]

There is no "more evolved." Evolution doesn't work that way.

There is a more evolved.
If not, we are the exact same thing as homo erectus (for example).
Which we are not.
We are more evolved than them

You have to be careful with things like "more evolved". We still have an appendix which is completely redundant - apart from sometimes almost killing us. We also have finger and toe-nails.
By your definition of evolution, I would say the HIV is the most evolved documented thing on this planet, and it's not even alive

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

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[TheNamlessGuy]

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[ThrobbingEgo]

Natural selection doesn't care about intelligence, strength, or monocles. All evolution is, is the ability of an animal to survive, reproduce, and maybe ensure the survival and reproduction of its offspring. And even if an animal has a comparative advantage in a given environment, the environment can change, putting that animal at a reproductive disadvantage. Increases in any trait you may find desirable are simply happy co-incidences.

There is no "higher" or "lower" in evolution. There's only adaption and survival, in the context of competition and environment.

By that logic, the whole thing that we evolved from the monkeys is false, and we just popped up out of nowhere.

No. Evolutionary science acknowledges that human beings share a common ancestor with monkeys, but that doesn't mean we're "more" evolved than our ancestors. We've slowly "evolved" or adapted to better survive in our environment.

Just because we've evolved from something doesn't mean we're "more evolved." You have to understand what the process of natural selection is. Evolution is indifferent.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

We have different brains than any other animal, and you know what that makes us? Dangerous animals. It really all depends on what connotation the word animal holds for you but truly I see us all as equal, other than the minor detail that we're on top of the food chain meaning we eat whatever the hell we want.

 

[shroomz]

-snip-

I agree. Our only truly distinguishing feature is our remarkable ability to be remarkably unremarkable. At everything. Sure a cheetah can outrun us, and eat us, but they can't swim. Sharks can't go on land. And so on.

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

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[Grounogeos]

I see all humans as animals. Sometimes humans do things so unbelievably stupid that I want to rank them at the bottom of the intelligence chain. Ants are smarter than most people.

That is incredibly degrading... to the ants.

OT: We are animals, in my opinion. Though we've gotten to the point where it's a hard idea for others to accept because of how "advanced" we are. That argument alone is stupid to me; having advanced technology doesn't place us "above" other animals, especially not when there are so many things that other animals are better at than us.

To be honest, when you compare how reliant we are on our technology for things that other creatures can do with only their bodies (hunting, communicating (I'm talking more about how some people feel the need to text entire conversations with someone who's right fucking next to them), weather prediction, etc.), I actually see humans as some of the most pathetic animals on the planet.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

No. Evolutionary science acknowledges that human beings share a common ancestor with monkeys, but that doesn't mean we're "more" evolved than our ancestors. We've slowly "evolved" or adapted to better survive in our environment.

Just because we've evolved from something doesn't mean we're "more evolved." You have to understand what the process of natural selection is. Evolution is indifferent.

That is what "more evolved" means.

That's just a more complicated way of saying it.

EDIT: We have adapted better, therefore evolved more

Again, natural selection only works in the context of environment and competition. There isn't an objective "better" only "better adapted than the competition." Something can't be "more" evolved, because everything's evolved.

You take random human beings and stick them in a jungle, and they will be out preformed by monkeys.

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

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[RanD00M]

Human=Mammals=Animals.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

Again, natural selection only works in the context of environment and competition. There isn't an objective "better" only "better adapted than the competition." Something can't be "more" evolved, because everything's evolved.

Saying something is "more" evolved sounds like bad science fiction.

Yeah.
Everything has color too, but some things have more color.

"More evolved" means you are better adapted to your "enemies", or that you are able to defeat them in the time of need

You take random human beings and stick them in a jungle, and they will be out preformed by monkeys. Monkeys are better adapted to the jungle than humans. Therefore, by your logic, monkeys are "more evolved" than humans.

 

[GrinningManiac]

Yup, and, if anything, we're too perfect.

Not being elitist or anything, by the way. I mean that we've almost "over-evolved" this planet, like a hermit crab that has outgrown its shell. We take up too much space, too many resources and unbalance everything we touch

I'm not an extinctionist or anything, I just think that we're too damn adaptable and we've slipped off the other end of the pinnacle of evolution

 

[Naeo]

Yes, because Science says we fall into the "Animal Kingdom", ergo, we are animals. It is that simple. We may be/think we are the smartest animals ever, but really, we're still animals. Just animals that wear fancy suites and blow each other the fuck up.

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

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[electric_warrior]

No, but they didn't talk, they communicated.

To talk you need to open your mouth

Granted, but not all languages require talking. Sign language for example.

And, on a sillier note, what about ventriloquism? Some people can talk with their mouth shut.

 

[Airhead]

As I see it, we are just really smart monkeys.

We are not better than other animals and not worse. Just smarter.

People propose 'civility' as something that makes us different than other animals. But if you understand civility as the ability to work together for a greater goal, then there you could easily find animals which are better than us in this aspect. Ants for one cooperate with such precision and selflessness that it's pretty damn scary.

Or you could understand civility as the quality which makes us obey the general law 'Thou shalt be nice to other living things'. But we do that only because we have the luxury to do so. If a tiger decides it is unethical to kill for food, it will starve to death. End of story.

I think drawing a big line between us and other animals is dangerous because it reinforces the idea that they're insignificant and it's ok to treat them like objects. There are many amazing specializations among the different species and we're just lucky to have hit the 'bigger brain' upgrade and gotten the perks that follow. You know, literature, space travel, cable TV...