How come humans are so much different than any other species

[born]

How come we human species are so much different than any other species on the planet in that we alter the planet, and everything on it, and use what is on planet earth to make new substances. No other species does that.
As far as I know every other species on the planet uses only the materials present. They do not invent new ones.
We are the only species with a technological understanding.
How come we are so different. Do any other species build transporting apparatus to move about? Does any other species even cook their food? How come we decided to be different?
What say we came from somewhere else. Or maybe the aliens really did come down and play with our DNA. Maybe God made us different.
Does it really seem a cut and dry argument that we just simply evolved differently, and that's all there is to it?
What is your opinion?

[Soapy Sam]

Neural complexity.
Given the assumption that consciousness is a reasonably likely outcome of sufficient neural complexity, there had to be a first time for it to happen on this planet. We happened to be first, is all. We are therefore first to do the things it enables animals to do.
We may not be the last. Latecomers may have it harder, because we burned all the coal and petroleum and of course they must compete with the incumbents.

If we subscribe to the "arms race" model of evolution, we developed a secret weapon which gave us a huge advantage over the competition. Could be the competition was simultaneously developing it , but fell a little behind, which was a little too far. You don't see many Neanderthals around these days for example. As a species, we are successful. As a genus, Homo is down to a single species from the glory days of the Pleistocene.


Anyway, I'm not sure we are so unique. The largest artificial structure on the planet is built by corals. Termite mounds do a pretty good job of environmental control and are immense by the scale of the builders.

[Mojo]

How come we human species are so much different than any other species on the planet in that we alter the planet, and everything on it, and use what is on planet earth to make new substances. No other species does that.
As far as I know every other species on the planet uses only the materials present. They do not invent new ones.
We are the only species with a technological understanding.
How come we are so different. Do any other species build transporting apparatus to move about? Does any other species even cook their food? How come we decided to be different?
What say we came from somewhere else. Or maybe the aliens really did come down and play with our DNA. Maybe God made us different.
Does it really seem a cut and dry argument that we just simply evolved differently, and that's all there is to it?
What is your opinion?We're smarter than other species, and crucially we have developed the ability to use language and symbols, but that is the only significant difference between us and other species. Our DNA isn't so different from that of a chimp, for example.

I don't think there's any conspiracy involved.

[Soapy Sam]

Conspiracy? Now there's a thought! That last Ice Age ended rather abruptly.
It's almost as if someone used explosives on the glaciers...

[Gravy]

Does any other species even cook their food?
Yes. I've had some meals in the cafeteria at the University of Arkansas Medical Center that were definitely not made by humans.

[Rasmus]

As far as I know every other species on the planet uses only the materials present. They do not invent new ones.

Wasps make paper, don't they? And Bees produce wax.

We are the only species with a technological understanding.

Many species of animals have been observed to use tools.

How come we are so different.

We aren't really that much different, I think. We just have a little more smarts so we can do more of many things that other animals do, ands do it in more complex ways.

Do any other species build transporting apparatus to move about?

Not as far as i know, no. But for how long did humans not do that? And were they any less human before that? I think that is another key difference. After becoming more intelligent, we had a couple of thousand years of thinking up new stuff.

Does any other species even cook their food?

No, but I am sure it wouldn't take long after some animal learned how to control fire.

How come we decided to be different?

No decision, just dumb luck. Literally - we only ended up smarter because we got lucky - then we turned out to be different.

What say we came from somewhere else. Or maybe the aliens really did come down and play with our DNA. Maybe God made us different.

If it can be done just by playing with our DNA, then it could have happened all by itself. (wasn't there a southpark episode where it turned out that it was a major joke on some TV show that we had so many different species on one planet?)

Does it really seem a cut and dry argument that we just simply evolved differently, and that's all there is to it?


Yes, why ever not? After all, our DNA is not different from any other known DNA on the planet. It's all the same chemicals, all the same mechanisms and all the same principles involved. It's just a different order of molecuels between different species. We simply do not stand out in a significant way.

We're just smarter. We are probably the smartest species on the planet - but someone had to be the smartest. Being smarter than anyother species isn't special. dogs are smarter than worms, dolphins are smarter than fish, Elephants are smarter than bugs, etc. etc.

It is not at all special that someone would come out on top. It is also not very suprising that being smart turned out to be a good competitive edge in many areas. We're just very experienced in being a little smarter and making good use of it. That's why you see so much of it in everyday live.

(Also, you are looking at a species that has a big variety of degrees of smartness. A few people are incredibly dumb, a few are incredibly intelligent, and there is a lot of middle ground. Granted, no chimp could have invented a computer - but face it, most humans couldn't have done it, either.)

[Beady]

Wasps make paper, don't they? And Bees produce wax.

Don't some ants essentialy mix a form of concrete, out of which they build their ant hills?

We aren't really that much different, I think. We just have a little more smarts...

Smarts? Well, that's up for debate. Physically, though, our hairlessness, bipedalism and brain complexity are our only distinguishing features, and that final item is our only real advantage. Bipedalism allows us to handle weapons, but weapon-wielding usually only comes into play when brain complexity alone isn't up to the situation. Pound for pound we are the weakest, least dexterous and most vulnerable of the primates, and I really can't think of an analogue to us in any of the other orders; they seem to have died out, if they ever existed.

[Ririon]

...
I don't think there's any conspiracy involved.
Sounds like Yet Another ID Thread to me. The real question that nobody apparently dares to ask, is: "How come giraffes are so much different than any other species?" :D

[Mojo]

Sounds like Yet Another ID Thread to me. The real question that nobody apparently dares to ask, is: "How come giraffes are so much different than any other species?" :DAnd what are they up to?

[bob_kark]

Don't some ants essentialy mix a form of concrete, out of which they build their ant hills?



Smarts? Well, that's up for debate. Physically, though, our hairlessness, bipedalism and brain complexity are our only distinguishing features, and that final item is our only real advantage. Bipedalism allows us to handle weapons, but weapon-wielding usually only comes into play when brain complexity alone isn't up to the situation. Pound for pound we are the weakest, least dexterous and most vulnerable of the primates, and I really can't think of an analogue to us in any of the other orders; they seem to have died out, if they ever existed.
Don't forget our fully opposable thumb. Which is only rivaled by dolphins (www.theonion.com/content/node/28315).

[Beerina]

Yes. I've had some meals in the cafeteria at the University of Arkansas Medical Center that were definitely not made by humans.

Though the meats may look like something made of humans...

[StewartP]

Don't forget our fully opposable thumb.
Feeding time for our cats and dogs, and I'm surrounded by wagging tails and mews, I look down on them and laugh.
Mwah ha ha ha! I have the opposable thumb! I can operate the can opener!

No really us hominids have had a few evolutionary lucky breaks that makes us multi-nichingTM Opposable Thumb, Flat Feet (with Tilted Pelvis and Massive Gluteus Maximus) for upright walking and Big Brain.

Kurt Vonnegut's excellent novel Galapagos has his characters big brains making them do stupid things. Vonnegut's take was that our big brains are an evolutionary disaster.

[Z]

As far as I know every other species on the planet uses only the materials present. They do not invent new ones.

Not entirely true. Some wasps make paper for construction purposes. Bees make wax. Spiders make silk.

We are the only species with a technological understanding.

At best, maybe an advanced technological understanding - several species are tool users, engineers, etc. Their technology is primitive but does exist.

Do any other species build transporting apparatus to move about?

Actually, some insects have been known to make sailing apparatus and floating apparatus. There's a species of spider that makes itself a diving bell for underwater operations.

Does any other species even cook their food?

If by 'cook' you mean 'burn and scorch', then no, because most animals haven't mastered fire yet. However, a number of species have been known to prepare their foods in different ways - coastal carnivores soaking their fresh kills in the ocean, etc.

[Brainache]

An excellent novel on this subject is "Evolution" by Stephen Baxter.
It is quite long, but it does attempt to tell the whole story of Human evolution from the first primates 60 million years ago, right up to the present day and beyond.
A bit like the Vonnegut book, in the future, big brains may not be such an advantage.

[Beady]

Don't forget our fully opposable thumb.

How do our two opposable thumbs differentiate us from and/or give us an advantage over the four opposable thumbs of the other primates?

[bob_kark]

How do our two opposable thumbs differentiate us from and/or give us an advantage over the four opposable thumbs of the other primates?
Just as our brain is more complex than that of primates, our opposable thumb is more dexterous than those of the primates.

[NobbyNobbs]

Because if it wasn't us, it's be some other species. And then we'd be sitting in the dens we hollowed out under the tree roots, wondering, "Why do the cockroaches get it so good?"

[Beady]

Just as our brain is more complex than that of primates, our opposable thumb is more dexterous than those of the primates.

If true, I really doubt that it would matter all that much. The other primates are certainly physically capable of manipulating most tools which would have existed up to the 20th century.

[kevin]

Just as our brain is more complex than that of primates, our opposable thumb is more dexterous than those of the primates.

yes, but other primates have toes that are way more opposable than ours.

[bob_kark]

If true, I really doubt that it would matter all that much. The other primates are certainly physically capable of manipulating most tools which would have existed up to the 20th century.
Manipulating, sure. Using them properly, in fact creating them to begin with would become quite difficult. Could you imagine attempting to create a watch without full use of your thumb? It may be possible, but it would be extremely difficult and would limit production. Would we still have formed a civilization without fully opposable thumbs? Sure, it simply wouldn't have been as great.

[bob_kark]

yes, but other primates have toes that are way more opposable than ours.
Those lucky SOBs... I want to swing by my toes too!

[Wowbagger]

My contribution to the discussion would be: our "plastic" brain, meaning a brain whose synaptic mapping is more pliable to environment and experience than any other animals. It is this plasticity that allows memes to infiltrate our mannerisms, and our mannerisms to infiltrate others in the form of memes. It is the memes that allow us to appear so much "smarter" than the other animals.

But, I also like a lot of other answers folks offered here. Especially Ramus and all who have contributed similar information.

I was originally going to say "God Given Soul", but I see now how ridiculous that would have been. ;)

[aggle-rithm]

How come we human species are so much different than any other species on the planet in that we alter the planet, and everything on it, and use what is on planet earth to make new substances. No other species does that.
As far as I know every other species on the planet uses only the materials present. They do not invent new ones.
We are the only species with a technological understanding.
How come we are so different. Do any other species build transporting apparatus to move about? Does any other species even cook their food? How come we decided to be different?
What say we came from somewhere else. Or maybe the aliens really did come down and play with our DNA. Maybe God made us different.
Does it really seem a cut and dry argument that we just simply evolved differently, and that's all there is to it?
What is your opinion?

Actually, there were two others. Just 100,000 years ago there were three species of humans, and it had been the norm for several million years that there were several species of proto-humans sharing the planet at a time. I guess we just edged out the Neanderthals and the Homo erecti, and have had the planet to ourselves for a while now. But just a little while, in geological time.

[Outhere]

Other creatures have all they need to survive as is, right out of the kit. Humans do not. We have a long infancy that leaves us vulnerable. Our senses of sight, hearing and smell are inferior to almost every other species; we can't run as fast, leap as high. You might say that human inventions came about because we were aware enough to recognize our deficiencies and try to compensate for them. Take away our tools now and how long would we last?

[fuelair]

How come we human species are so much different than any other species on the planet in that we alter the planet, and everything on it, and use what is on planet earth to make new substances. No other species does that.
As far as I know every other species on the planet uses only the materials present. They do not invent new ones.
We are the only species with a technological understanding.
How come we are so different. Do any other species build transporting apparatus to move about? Does any other species even cook their food? How come we decided to be different?
What say we came from somewhere else. Or maybe the aliens really did come down and play with our DNA. Maybe God made us different.
Does it really seem a cut and dry argument that we just simply evolved differently, and that's all there is to it?
What is your opinion?

Brains, thumbs, ability to make good use of both on occasion.

[The Atheist]

How come we human species are so much different than any other species on the planet in that we alter the planet, and everything on it, and use what is on planet earth to make new substances.

First off, along with the animals mentioned so far, there are a fair number of plants which produce new substances & chemicals, some more efficiently than we do yet.

As to altering the planet, humans have only made planetary alterations over the past few thousand years - a minscule time in evolutionary terms. Dinosaurs may well have made as many changes to the planet as we have so far, and surely plants have done so.

I'm more interested in finding out why we are the only mammalian species to use tools for attacking members of our own species.

[gumboot]

I'm more interested in finding out why we are the only mammalian species to use tools for attacking members of our own species.


Because of that big black rock thing...

-Andrew

[Kaarjuus]

I'm more interested in finding out why we are the only mammalian species to use tools for attacking members of our own species.

Are we? (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/demonicmales.htm)

[Mojo]

Feeding time for our cats and dogs, and I'm surrounded by wagging tails and mews, I look down on them and laugh.
Mwah ha ha ha! I have the opposable thumb! I can operate the can opener!But note that, despite their lack of opposable thumbs, the cats and dogs are gaining access to the food.

Food that you paid for. ;)

[Beady]

Manipulating, sure. Using them properly, in fact creating them to begin with would become quite difficult. Could you imagine attempting to create a watch without full use of your thumb?

First, I said "most."

2nd, Humanity did just fine without watches for several thousand years.

3rd, Invention and proper use are functions of brain complexity, not dexterity.

There is absolutely no physical reason why, given human brains in, say, gorilla bodies, most things of actual human history up to the middle of the 19th century could not have been built. Beyond that is more problematic. This includes the tools it would take to build them.

Would we still have formed a civilization without fully opposable thumbs? Sure, it simply wouldn't have been as great.

Prove it.

[StewartP]

But note that, despite their lack of opposable thumbs, the cats and dogs are gaining access to the food.

Food that you paid for. ;)
It's worse than that.

We then go around picking up all the dog and cat **** :(

Surely evolution gone wrong.

[gumboot]

Evolution is really very simple.

The most excellent summary can be found here (http://www.bash.org/?95326):

<ajax> Some people...have the idea that evolution is a ******* system of...
<ajax> "oh i need flippers, i'd better grow some" type *********. :P
<ajax> It's more like "Oh **** look at that freak over there with the flippers hahaha OH **** I AM DROWNING OH GOD SAVE ME FLIPPER BOY".

Next week... l33t sp34k Shakespeare...

-Andrew

[Rasmus]

Manipulating, sure. Using them properly, in fact creating them to begin with would become quite difficult. Could you imagine attempting to create a watch without full use of your thumb?

Yes, easily, even. Of course the thumb is a great advantage, but being able to grab stuff with a hand that I don't need to stand and walk on is the important bit.

Of course, we now live in a civilisation that is based on us having the thumbs we have, but if we didn't things would look slightly different.

It may be possible, but it would be extremely difficult and would limit production.

It would be extremely difficult for us, since we are used to having a thumb, and it would limit production in our world, where all our tools are build for people with working thumbs.

Imagine a civilisation of humans with functional tails; their world might well be build around their abilities - but do you think it would be so much better or more advanced than ours?

Would we still have formed a civilization without fully opposable thumbs? Sure, it simply wouldn't have been as great.

My guess is, it would be different. It might even be greater, too, though. Think of all the cool inventions that might have followed the necessity of building stuff that can only be used without thumbs.

http://www.independencenow.com/ibot/balance.html

Makes me wonder what else you could do with the technology, and what things would be like if it had been around for 20+ years.

Come to think of it, we only have computers because we're bad at doing maths ... :D

[mommyrex]

Does it really seem a cut and dry argument that we just simply evolved differently, and that's all there is to it?
What is your opinion?

Yes, it is that cut and dried. Being the brainy ones is our niche. Brains are extremely useful for survival, and once we headed down the path to bigger, better ones, it makes sense that the best thinking would be selected for, in multiple iterations.

We lack many useful adaptations of other species (the camel's water reserves, the skunk's mace, the aye-aye's funky, long, bony finger-tool, just to name a few). But the brain is trump, and has allowed us to "artificially" pursue the adaptations we desire, and to dominate the world.

It bugs me when people consider humans apart from the rest of nature. Sure, the products of our industry are "artificial", but ultimately, we are creeping things, using what's here to satisfy our drives. Granted, the extreme to which we use what's here, and the impact we have, are thrilling to contemplate. But the superlatives don't make us something "beyond" nature.

[mommyrex]

Next week... l33t sp34k Shakespeare...

Might I suggest "What a piece of work is man"?