Are human beings superior to all other life?

[Shadowferal]

Got knives n swords. If being a brute is superiority, then how come we are at the top of the food chain?

Because we are brutes. And we kill our own for every reason and excuse including pleasure. If that majes us "better" I suggest you find a different perspective. [

[Ihavewaffles]

Yes and no.

I voted yes, but only in the sense that "an average individual human life is more valuable than the average life of any other individual singular life form".

But the ethics of the question are more complex than that.

For example.

Would the life of a poacher killing one of the last breeding rhinos be more valuable than that of the rhino?

In that case the answer would be a resounding NO.

Or... Is the collective well-being of bees as species less valuable than the life of pretty much any living person? The answer is again a resounding no.

Considering the ecological niche filled by bees and their role in agriculture sacrificing bees would cause massive economic damage a possible cascading ecological collapse with all the death, starvation and ruin that would imply on the collective wellbeing of billions of other humans.

So this question simply cannot be realistically answered with a yes or a no.

You say all this, while being a human. "the last rhino!!!11"

Like any predator would care if it's the last of a species...99:99% of lifeforms that have ever lived have become extinct, animals have always wiped each other out, always competed for territory n resources. Humans are the very first species to even stop to think..

When you have key species like crocodiles that form the environment around them, n you have a bunch of species that rely on the crocs, even if they get eaten by crocs, well the crocs formed the environment for their own croc need, not for them. And what happened to all the species that couldn't to fit themselves into the croc environment? They are all dead.

Important species is like the power of Gravitation, everything around them spins around them...To become dominant lots of species that can't survive around the gravitational pull become extinct.

This is what humanity is doing, we are getting rid of those that are supposed to not be here anymore n make room for those that can survive n thrive in our future environment. No dominant animal stopped "uh, I should hit the breaks of my dominance to save this one species whose role has become outdated because...because...it looks cute!" This is what environmentalists don't like to admit, we are only doing what all animals do or would do if given an opportunity..

We are the weird ones trying to preserve environments that should pass into the history books to make room for future thriving eco systems.

Because of our emotions we try to save pandas, and I agree with me being a hypocrite, I like our current environment, i like pandas n I think we need to save the cute fluffeh little teddy bears. but it's weird, this environment we are living in is alien. We have yet to come to grips how we will balance the environment, instead of creating a future environment best suited for us, we instead try to preserve pre-human environment into big out-door zoos like they are historical parks, like we are turning the world into a jurassic park for all these species n deny future species and ourselves our proper spot in the sun. This planet, isn't our home n we are talking about not making it so, to preserve historical species that would eventually all die out on their own anyways...from a life perspective humans are weird af. We are encapsulating the planet into historical environmental zones, while preventing those species from killing each other off too, and at the same time creating an artificial spot for ourselves outside progress. It's like we could just as well all move to Mars if we we aren't going to be a dominant species forming the environment...or rather, we are gardening earth into a bizarro world. A living history book, that we neatly want to put on a shelf..

and yet we create these weird dog species, from the wolf, for companionship etc.

so weird.

but corgis. are damn cute.

[Afrospinach]

I know, at first I thought it was just edgelords being edgelords but over the last couple years I've started thinking misanthropy is on the rise, or maybe it's always been there but nobody talked about it before. As far as ideology I think the solution is to promote humanism.

There is a big difference between thinking humans are worthless and humanity is worthless.

[Santti]

Because we are brutes. And we kill our own for every reason and excuse including pleasure. If that majes us "better" I suggest you find a different perspective.

Yeah... we are barely out the jungle. Just look how many creative ways we've come up with how to torture someone. For fun.

Sometimes I wonder if the ammosexuals we see in America are like that, because they are just waiting for the opportunity to shoot someone, and legally get away with it. No other reason. I certainly don't buy the excuse it's for self-defense, while at the same time, yell at the top of their lungs how great their country is.

[Shadowferal]

There is a big difference between thinking humans are worthless and humanity is worthless.

It's funny.. I don't believe that libertarianism and humanity are inclusive of each other.

[Zantos]

Dude, everything is in books, or online, just look it up. Or go talk to the people that have the information. and all life is soft n squishy.

To reitterate, we, as a species, suck. Our brain and mental capacity is the Only thing that has given us an advantage. Take away a safe place to take the time to use it, and we are SoL. We can't defend ourselves on our own long enough to buy ourselves the time to think or invent a tool.

Most humans can't survive without the tools that have been developed by others. That is also what makes us far worse. Our survival skills are negligible. Most people can't even tell you one safe to eat plant.

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"The only thing we have going for us is the one thing that trumps everything else"

Trumps everything else IF we can find a way to use it before we die. Most humans, strictly speaking, won't be able to accomplish that. You need a safe environment to give ourselves time to think. Or you need to be smart enough to think on the fly.

[Shadowferal]

Reminds me of the guy who imagined in some way he could just leave his suburban home and live in the wilderness, alone with just a .22 rifle. He didn't last long.

[Dezerte]

Even with technology humans cannot survive beyond a certain ocean depth. We cannot take flight as effortlessly as a bird.

There are things we can't do, do well or do in the same way.

[Easo]

We have cars.

God damn, this is probably the first time I agree with you on anything. I love people here saying "but we have only our brains as advantage (forgetting our running capability and being able to use tools with our hands)!". Yet "only" they are more than enough against everything. We can compensate and far more for almost everything we lack.

[Shadowferal]

God damn, this is probably the first time I agree with you on anything. I love people here saying "but we have only our brains as advantage (forgetting our running capability and being able to use tools with our hands)!". .

Both take a brain to use. (Yes, running too...)

[Easo]

Both take a brain to use. (Yes, running too...)

Even better. Our brains are superior to everything else taken together. What else is needed?

[Acidbaron]

It is not just our individual intelligence as if that were the case according to remains other humanoids including the neanderthals had bigger brains and thus were most likely more intelligent than a human sapiens.

However history has taught us it is our collective intelligence, our emotional intelligence and social abilities to interact and communicate is the reason we went on to discover nuclear power where as the other humanoids simply died out due to the impact our advances had on the world.

Again a lot of interesting books on this, most notably Sapiens also this i recommend if you struggle with accepting that we are not nearly as selfish and anti-social as we are led to believe and actually thrive as a species in group Humankind: A Hopeful History

Both books have their shortcomings but it does give you a good insight in to human nature and superiority. Yuval does paint a pretty ugly picture of us during the agriculture age and our treatment of animals.

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Both take a brain to use. (Yes, running too...)

I believe there is even study that highlights it is good for your brain and intellect to train complex movements. I would have to look this up but it even goes as far that if you can imagine and think about how to perform a movement in your head you can actually train your body to become better at that movement.

Few interesting youtube channels on this The bioneer being the most interesting one that highlights the importance of the brain body connection for athletes and physical fitness in general.

[Tuor]

It is not just our individual intelligence as if that were the case according to remains other humanoids including the neanderthals had bigger brains and thus were most likely more intelligent than a human sapiens.

If we thought that way then elephants would be considered the most inteligent race on earth. That extra mass on the brain was mostly related to extra skill, like extra ability to smell or better periferical vision. Take dolphins as an example, they use their brain to be hable to ''see'' sounds, something we can't do. We mankind have lost by now some habilities related to survival in the wilderness, that is the main reason our brains are smaller the, lets say, Cro-Magnons or Neanderthal's.

[Acidbaron]

If we thought that way then elephants would be considered the most inteligent race on earth. That extra mass on the brain was mostly related to extra skill, like extra ability to smell or better periferical vision. Take dolphins as an example, they use their brain to be hable to ''see'' sounds, something we can't do. We mankind have lost by now some habilities related to survival in the wilderness, that is the main reason our brains are smaller the, lets say, Cro-Magnons or Neanderthal's.

Perhaps the size of ones brain is an oversimplification to use as a benchmark for intelligence but it does give us more room to know things, as you just said we ''lost'' certain skills related to survival, although i would argue it is not so much that we lost it we simply made room for other things, as our brains are great at adapting.

It is why some people if not tribes can still see with echolocation, i believe blind people can also attain this through practice.

[Tuor]

It is why some people if not tribes can still see with echolocation, i believe blind people can also attain this through practice.

If that was true, then we would be training blind people to do that, sadly, i still see people with a cane on the street .

[Acidbaron]

If that was true, then we would be training blind people to do that, sadly, i still see people with a cane on the street .

It was my understanding that we can, mind you i do not know if this is a reputable source or not

https://www.sciencealert.com/blind-a...ew-as-10-weeks

neuroplasticity is pretty damn impressive from my understanding.

Edit: remember it from this or one of the demonstrations given by that person.

[Shadowferal]

Even better. Our brains are superior to everything else taken together. What else is needed?

The will to use it, and the self-awareness to know you're using it well.

[PACOX]

Looking up some stuff to reply in the thread about two intelligent species evolving on the same planet reminded me of how vulnerable hominids are to the environment. So many of out ancestors died to climate change and we really aren't that better off. If we can't out think nature then we are screwed.

[Shadowferal]

Well, we were nearly extinct before (probably several times before that). And it wasn't our brains that saved us as a species. It was our balls. Literally. Human fecundity if you will.

[Easo]

The will to use it, and the self-awareness to know you're using it well.

Judging by the current human population and couple of other things (like capability to almost or fully eradicate diseases), we are using it well.