Anthropocentrism: are humans special?

[capitano666]

It is a ladder. It does have a pinnacle. It is an infinite ladder with the pinnacle being whatever the highest rung happens to be at.

He says there is no pinnacle, you say that the pinnacle is at infinity, you are saying the same thing.
Just pointing out is that at some point you can fall down from the ladder when the world changes around you.

[Roose]

Humans are indeed special. We are currently leading the evolutionary race.

That said, I think humans as a species are devolving now and have been for quite a while. Survival of the fittest no longer applies and the stupid people have far too fast of a reproductive rate.

Intelligence was what separated our species, but it is no longer a prized trait and ignorance has taken over. No telling when humanity peaked, but it has been spiraling down for a very long time.

There are obviously other smart species out there. Only a matter of time before humans either kill themselves or another species overtakes us (unless we kill them first).

[Extrazero8]

Other species have arguments.

Conversations haven't exactly proven to be anything of worth.


I think we're not special, we're simply the most evolved living organism.
Most evolved? We are not some goal of a natural phenomenon. Evolution does not have an "end game".

Put it another way, when the sun finally goes through heat death, if humans survive we'll be the only species that was capable of surviving (by deep space exploration/colonization) aside from domesticated animals that will survive due to human sentimentality towards them. Cute puppies will survive because humans bring them along as we appreciate their parasitic lives.
Even if something like that does happen it does not give evolution a goal. That would be like calling Blackholes the goal of gravity.


Does that make us / them special?

The question remains, when will we welcome our cyborg overlords? Because sentient machines are bound to be far more resilient than humans. Will we still consider those inventions human? When the technology exists to upload your mind/soul/brain into a machine, is that still human?

I think humanity will cross that bridge when we get there.

[Borzo]

Humans are indeed special. We are currently leading the evolutionary race.

Race? Race towards what exactly?

That said, I think humans as a species are devolving now and have been for quite a while. Survival of the fittest no longer applies and the stupid people have far too fast of a reproductive rate.

As already pointed out, there is no such thing as "devolving". Survival of the fittest STILL DOES APPLY. It's just that the environment has changed (to being beyond recognition).

Intelligence was what separated our species, but it is no longer a prized trait and ignorance has taken over. No telling when humanity peaked, but it has been spiraling down for a very long time.

In a sense, this might be true.

There are obviously other smart species out there. Only a matter of time before humans either kill themselves or another species overtakes us (unless we kill them first).

Realistically, we'll be killing them first, I can guarantee that!

[Deleted]

Simply saying that of course doesn't mean anything, but I do believe that in the field of morality (so not talking about health or scientific theories) there is never an actual right or wrong answer. No matter how I as a person may be attached to some moral belief

There's certainly no consensus in the field of ethics. But I think that's because it's been lagging behind for a while, due to religion basically. Think about it, for a long time all these things are simply answered by "God said it's right, therefore it's right". It's one thing to challenge the Bible's account of how humans where created, but to challenge what God says is good or not is a whole new ballgame. Now we're in a more and more secular world and these things are starting to present problems, we realise now just saying "it's good" isn't enough, many theists argue you can't say your "objectively" (hate these terms, personally) right or wrong in morality without basing it on a Deity, but many high profile people are now challenging this. Not to mention, the amount of variables with something like morality makes it so much more complicated than most other topics, so it's tough.

I gotta go now unfortunately, but if your intrested in this topic I highly suggest giving this video a watch, it's a good place to start,

[Deleted]

Race? Race towards what exactly?

That's the million dollar question: what is life, evolution for? Why does it exist? A lot think there is no end and all life is just an accidental occurrence, but it has been becoming more complex (based on what's been seen on this planet) is it leading to something?

[capitano666]

Anyway, to be honest I've had the feeling that a lot of people just want to argue and pointing out at wrong semantics without even trying to interpret what the other person meant.
Someone said that humans are special because we are "more evolved"? He's probably talking about technology, no reason to give a biology lesson

(ok I'm guilty too about that cancer contaminated cells thing)

[xylophone]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction

/flex

I would say we're pretty OP

[Zecora]

What do you think? Are humans special?

As special as any other living thing I suppose. Quite often more flawed though.

[Borzo]

Anyway, to be honest I've had the feeling that a lot of people just want to argue and pointing out at wrong semantics without even trying to interpret what the other person meant.
Someone said that humans are special because we are "more evolved"? He's probably talking about technology, no reason to give a biology lesson

(ok I'm guilty too about that cancer contaminated cells thing)

It's nothing personal, just that if you're gonna use the word "evolve" in a discussion about evolution, you should probably use it correctly.

[birdfly]

I think we are special.

We are the only species that can be self conscious.
We can be aware of our own breathing and thoughts and emotions. Animals only act out of instinct but we can become aware of our instinct and not act them out.

Basically what i'm trying to say, is we can watch our selves thinking about thinking.

[Deleted]

Humans are indeed special. We are currently leading the evolutionary race.

That said, I think humans as a species are devolving now and have been for quite a while. Survival of the fittest no longer applies and the stupid people have far too fast of a reproductive rate.

Intelligence was what separated our species, but it is no longer a prized trait and ignorance has taken over. No telling when humanity peaked, but it has been spiraling down for a very long time.

There are obviously other smart species out there. Only a matter of time before humans either kill themselves or another species overtakes us (unless we kill them first).

Will it be the raptors?
I bet its the raptors. THEY CAN OPEN DOORS FOR GOD'S SAKE!!

[Pert]

Yeah, we're special. By any definition I've seen, anyway.

[Roose]

Will it be the raptors?
I bet its the raptors. THEY CAN OPEN DOORS FOR GOD'S SAKE!!

Nah, fucking cockroaches or an oil monster.

Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms.