Message 14/38
Date: 21-Aug-03 @ 09:10 PM -
RE: human animals
No it hasn't changed, but.. I'd say that animals do not have the capacity to recognize a need for change beyond a particular experience (back to the cat knowing it needs to dodge the foot). Humans have not changed, but many see that change is needed. That what we're doing isn't working. Of course it's a matter of opinion on that one... but just that we see a fundamental BIG PICTURE that other animals do not sets us apart.
Are we animals, YES! But I also think we are unique insofar as anything is unique (speaking relativisticaly here of course... as I hold that uniqueness in truth is a myth at all). Humans (as far as i can see) can recognize a fundamental disatisfaction with reality... not just causes and conditions, but with the very nature of the life experience.
Cat's, Horses.. that's not what I'm talking about... they display a form of conceit in that they are Self Absorbed... i"m referring to the human reaction to phenomena that sees the self as a seperate entity and evaluates itself in comparison to other seperate intities it identifies...
It's true we have no way of knowing what a cat/dog/horse is really thinking, but I do not believe (based on my understanding of their behavioral patterns) that they evaluate their behavior based on their interactions with other species... sure, they are aware of other species as being different from them, but do they ask, "Are humans animals too?" I doubt it.. I don't think they conceptualize to that extent.
DNA... hmmmm, i do not except the modern scientific convention that everything I am is based on the roadmap that determined my physical characteristics. There is "something" else that determines who/what I am, or at least plays a role... so, while an interesting point, I'm not sure I think it makes much of a difference. A child born with only 1/4 of a brain has 99.9% identical DNA with a brother born fully cognizant... yet, for purposes of this argument they are inteirely different in every appreciable way!
e