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The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 10:21:08 AM   
Aneirin


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I am not talking about the furries, but how different are we from animals, I mean we have art, cinema, sport, literature and philosophy, we are supposedly civilised, but are we really that different from animals ?

Primitive people could be likened to animals, albeit human animals, because they lack civility, but is our civility just a mask for the animal beneath ?





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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 10:24:22 AM   
celticlord2112


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quote:

I am not talking about the furries, but how different are we from animals, I mean we have art, cinema, sport, literature and philosophy, we are supposedly civilised, but are we really that different from animals ?

No, we're not.

We're animals through and through, just a little less civilized than the rest of the animal kingdom.


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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 10:25:51 AM   
Raechard


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Status: offline 		Speak for yourself, I'm perfectly civilised. I know which side the fork is supposed to go.
 
It's when they introduce large and small forks things get a little confused.

< Message edited by Raechard -- 12/6/2008 10:27:06 AM >

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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 10:36:08 AM   
Rule


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Status: offline 		Elephants determine the humanity of other creatures by the size of their trunk.

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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 10:36:42 AM   
MadAxeman


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That's civilised.

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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 10:38:51 AM   
LadyEllen


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Status: offline 		It is in our power to be animals or gods. Civilisation does not connote the latter necessarily, just as the former is not necessarily associated with a lack of civilisation.

E

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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 10:53:05 AM   
came4U


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Status: offline 		This is one of the main reasons why anthropology beats sociology anyday, anytime.

In essence we are no less animal than previous thought.  What some consider 'civility' is merely smoke and mirrors.  Our ansestors fought over legitimate shortages (food, water, mates) not over non-commodity (profiteering) items.  So which is less civil? Fighting over a barrel of oil or fighting over the last wild hog in the forest?  Is it more civil to float one with mental illness into a foggy icesheild or to lock them up and dope them in an institution?

Considering we are so entirely civil, why are there genocides of unfathomable proportion still occuring?  We haven't come very far in more than a well-meaning textbook definition of 'civility', if anything, we are less so and give less thought to the generational impact upon any given action in our environment. It is all a matter of socio-cultural norms or even mores.

Good comparative reading: Gerald M. Erchak's The Anthropology of the Self and Behavior.

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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 11:16:24 AM   
bluepanda


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Rule

Elephants determine the humanity of other creatures by the size of their trunk.


I could probably fool 'em then when I'm just coming out of the shower.


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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 11:17:06 AM   
Sanity


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Status: offline 		We have a brain little bigger than a dolphin, and opposable thumbs. Still, we're animals - and the most dangerous ones of all. I think that if you could infallibly predict what someone was going to do one might credibly state that we're above all that, but we humans are indeed completely wild at times and totally unpredictable.

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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 11:20:58 AM   
DesFIP


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Status: offline 		We're animals with a little extra. But we are more ruled by our biology than not. Millions of years of bred in instincts are not going to suddenly disappear because we see an affecting painting.

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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 11:26:40 AM   
windchymes


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Status: offline 		When I watch all the facial expressions my little dog makes, which are so appropriately close to the ones humans make in the similar situations that might be occuring, it does make me think we're not as far removed as we think we are.    

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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 11:34:36 AM   
MadAxeman


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Status: offline 		The ability to maintain coherent but abstract thought and the use of tools set man apart.

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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 11:38:14 AM   
RealityLicks


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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 11:42:02 AM   
hlen5


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Status: offline 		  The first image that came to mind as I was reading this was a scene from the movie Braveheart. The Scots and the English are about to battle at Sterling. They are lined up opposing each other and making grunting noises and practice lunging. It was so animalistic and raw. And that was before the Scots started flashing from their kilts and waving their butts at the English.

Another thought, "Man is the only animal that blushes, and the only one that needs to."  -  Mark Twain

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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 11:43:32 AM   
hlen5


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Status: offline 		MadAxeman -

Humans aren't the only animals that use tools.


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RE: The human animal? - 12/6/2008 11:48:57 AM   
MarcEsadrian


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Aneirin

Are we really that different from animals ?



Of course not. We share the same machine code, if you will, of every other manifestation of life on this planet. We are simply the more vicious, dominant and confusing lot among them all. The idea we are somehow separate from or above nature leads ultimately to grandiose folly. Ironically, that's in our nature too, I suppose.

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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 11:54:15 AM   
MadAxeman


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Status: offline 		Fair point, but animals use tools in a very singular way, usually to hammer into shells or fruit casings. to climb higher and reach food or avoid danger. Tool making and problem solving have been observed in limited ways by animals.
RL, I may be a lobster but I know that Ali G is a white man, and being a comedy creation, hoping to be laughed at.

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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 11:58:17 AM   
MzMia


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Aneirin


I am not talking about the furries, but how different are we from animals, I mean we have art, cinema, sport, literature and philosophy, we are supposedly civilised, but are we really that different from animals ?

Primitive people could be likened to animals, albeit human animals, because they lack civility, but is our civility just a mask for the animal beneath ?

One of my all time favorite movie series, has to be The Planet of the Apes series.
My answer to your question consists of a 2 minute clip from the movie, that movie is
still one of the ones to beat, after 40 years!  All Photos from Planet of the Apes

Damn, I have to get the series on DVD after Christmas.


IMDb Video: Planet of the Apes




< Message edited by MzMia -- 12/6/2008 12:01:52 PM >

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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 11:59:21 AM   
hlen5


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Status: offline 		You're right. I don't know of any animals that makes complex tools. It takes the human animal to make a pistol or atom bomb. Now that's achievement!!

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RE: The human animal ? - 12/6/2008 12:13:19 PM   
SimplyMichael


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Status: offline 		The only ability man has that other animals lack is the ability to accumulate and pass on knowledge through writing.

Take an infant human and a chimpanzee and let them grow up in the wild together.  That human will have far more in common with that chimpanzee than it will any of us. 

Any number of animals have a sense of self, they recognize themselves in mirrors, elephants clearly recognize their dead and grieve, even years later.  Humans just are not that special. 

We look at where we are now and think that this is somehow our creation and it is most certainly not.  It is built upon the work of thousands of generations before us slowly accumulating and passing down knowledge.

Hell, if we had to evolve again, looking around at people in general, I wouldn't put much stock in our chances.

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