LINK Human Exceptionalism with a Human Face - Areo
FTA: Humans are particularly exceptional. This is not a spiritual fact, merely a historical one. Indeed, I couldn’t have made this claim 50,000 years ago. Back then, there were not only chimps around to remind us of our evolutionary heritage, but Neanderthals, Homo floresiensis (the hobbit) and Homo erectus. All three of these hominid species were tool-using, fire-using, language-using (probably), clothes-wearing and perhaps even had their own cultural myths about their own species’ exceptional status. But because those branches on the tree of life have been pruned, we are somewhat more exceptional today, simply because our closest relatives are extinct.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on, whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely the dolphins have always believed that they are far more intelligent than man, and for precisely the same reasons.
Douglas Adams
Metahuman
Level 7
Apr 23, 2019
2
Exceptional is a term we humans use to describe ourselves. We could also say wretched. I think we are just here, and in the context of earth time not for very long.
Mitch07102
Level 8
Apr 22, 2019
2
neanderthals are not extinct. many ppl have neanderthal dna in in their genes. some as high as 4-5%.
is the pasting feature no longer working here?
callmedubious
Level 8
Apr 22, 2019
1
They are extinct. All animals have DNA common to a common ancestor, regardless how many billion years you go back.
99.9% of all species that ever lived on earth are now extinct.
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