the human mind vs all other minds

TinyBubbles

TinyBubbles

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why has the human mind developed the way it has compared to the minds of all other creatures? if evolution is true then all life had a single origin, which implies all other creatures could've turned out like us, rational, emotional, thinking sentient beings with the ability to plan and develop tools - so why is it that we are the only ones riding around in cars and building buildings and communicating through the internet with people we've never met? why haven't dogs, cats, bears, fish, any other lifeform done what we have - what's differentiating people from the rest of the animal kingdom?

would love to hear your thoughts !
 
Been a long time since we covered that in Anthropology class. I can't remember all the specifics but it had to do with food sources available during different periods, specifically what was easiest to get ahold of. Then at some point in human history we began to start using tools, started off as just sticks or rocks at first...whatever we could get our hands on. Eventually the concept of modification took root and we really took off from there.

On a side note learning how to make stone tools is alot of fun, but it will wear you out.
 
Chance.
 
Also I reckon other animals never developed past a certain point because they didn't have to, their environment never caused that change.

It is interesting to see the ranges of intelligence in animals though, look up stray dogs in Moscow sometime...they've learned to use the subway and also the best ways to scare humans into dropping their food.
 
The size of animals determines how much food they require so when environmental conditions become hostile then the largest animals die first because they are the least adaptable

Our mammal anscestors survived the change in environment which killed the dinosaurs

When the climate becomes too hostile for humans then it will be smaller creatures that survive

Also i think our ape anscestors needed to operate on the ground, perhaps to gather food, so the ones that could stand upright for longest and keep a good eye out for danger bred the most leading overtime to a more upright creature.

Opposable thumbs enabled us to manipulate tools and the eating of meat increased our brain capacity

Our wily brains and ability to work together allowed us to kill off our main predators

OR...did it happen like this:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vahx4rAd0N0&feature=related"]YouTube- TRAILER - 2001: a space odyssey[/ame]

OR...lol...did it happen like this:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baeT3g7udho"]YouTube- bill hicks - evolution[/ame]
 
The same reason we didn't evolve to be like gerbils. Or gerbils didn't evolve to be like elephants

Why would they? Who's to say it's better?

Dolphins can echo locate. Why can't we? what would be the point? we don't need it

Same thing with intelligence. It takes up energy to be intelligent. if it's not needed then it's actually a hinderance as yuo need more food to maintain it
 
Poetic Justice said:
The same reason we didn't evolve to be like gerbils. Or gerbils didn't evolve to be like elephants

Why would they? Who's to say it's better?

Dolphins can echo locate. Why can't we? what would be the point? we don't need it

Same thing with intelligence. It takes up energy to be intelligent. if it's not needed then it's actually a hinderance as yuo need more food to maintain it
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Well said sir. A while ago I was trying to explain to someone that extreme intelligence was not the ultimate evolutionary trait that all creatures strive for. It's all about survivability.

Edit: And we can echo locate, just it takes a long time to learn and it's nowhere near on the scale of dolphins/bats.
 
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88chaz88 said:
Edit: And we can echo locate, just it takes a long time to learn and it's nowhere near on the scale of dolphins/bats.
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Yes yes I know but I couldn't be bothered to think of another example
 
May said:
why has the human mind developed the way it has compared to the minds of all other creatures? if evolution is true then all life had a single origin, which implies all other creatures could've turned out like us, rational, emotional, thinking sentient beings with the ability to plan and develop tools - so why is it that we are the only ones riding around in cars and building buildings and communicating through the internet with people we've never met? why haven't dogs, cats, bears, fish, any other lifeform done what we have - what's differentiating people from the rest of the animal kingdom?

would love to hear your thoughts !
Click to expand...

God must have some special purpose to do so. See, we can speak but animals can't. God wants that we should learn how to love anyone unconditionally. I don't see any big purpose than this.
 
I love this topic.


Also, we evolved out of the mammal family, which means the cognitive hardware of Primates or even Canines cannot be too far behind ours.

Compare modern human intelligence to the intelligence of early man, to the intelligence of the more intelligent mammals. The greatest leap has been in the past several millennia, which means we haven't even had a chance to really evolve since early homosapiens. We are using more or less the same hardware now as we were back then.

I don't think it is that we are massively superior per se, but that we have learned new ways to use what nature had already given us. The spark that lit our leap of intelligences is really our locking knees that allow us to walk upright and frees our hands to hold tools, as well as our opposable thumbs. Because of these factors we could start using our the cognitive processes we already had for different purposes. Constantly progressing, and creating more and more ways to use what we already had even in our primitive form.
I don't think the cognition of other mammals is that different from how ours works, we just had the chance to use it differently.
 
Roger said:
God must have some special purpose to do so. See, we can speak but animals can't. God wants that we should learn how to love anyone unconditionally. I don't see any big purpose than this.
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We are by no means the only animals that can speak to each other. Almost all animals can.
 
Poetic Justice said:
We are by no means the only animals that can speak to each other. Almost all animals can.
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Even if the only conversation they have is either "bugger off" or "have sex with me".
 
88chaz88 said:
Even if the only conversation they have is either "bugger off" or "have sex with me".
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Those and "hey guys, I've just killed a something" are probably the most commonly held conversations in the animal world. With "bugger off" being the clear winner
 
Poetic Justice said:
We are by no means the only animals that can speak to each other. Almost all animals can.
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I guess, you misunderstood my message. can animals speak English? no. We have to talk with animals with LOVE. this was my meaning.

Hope this time you understand this. Sorry for confusion.
 
Poetic Justice said:
Those and "hey guys, I've just killed a something" are probably the most commonly held conversations in the animal world. With "bugger off" being the clear winner
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Apart from the "I just killed something" (hopefully) 90% of the human race is no different.

Or at least it feels like that when passing through a council estate.
 
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