Hi Mike - it sounds as though you are getting very frustrated at the moment. I hate it when it feels as though people aren't understanding what I say, and so I think I can relate a little to how you are feeling. Also, I really hope that you aren't considering leaving, because I think it makes the forum more interesting to have you here. I have to admit, however, that I don't get what you are saying either.
I'm now going to talk a bit about why I find it problematic, but this could just be a load of rubbish that doesn't help. This is a strictly personal take on the situation.
I think there is a fundamental logical problem. It seems to me that that you can't make the claim that you are making, i.e. that humans are unique, unless you decide to ignore things that have yet to occur. By this I mean that if you are claiming that humans have, since they first strode the savannah, always been unique because they would once invent the atom bomb, you can't rule out the possibility, however absurd it sounds, that crows won't do the same in the future. Or perhaps humanity will in the future wipe out all life on the planet. That would certainly make us unique, but I don't think in a good way.
Basically what I'm saying is that although it is totally natural, it seems arbitrary that you are deciding to stop and look for the coolest animal that's around at this particular moment in time. It sure seems like us, but it wasn't us 50 million years ago, and it won't be us 50 million years hence.
This isn't really the main objection though. The main objection is that you haven't explained clearly enough for me why a beaver's dam is some crappy result of instinct and a human one is unique, different, special. Sure, ours is made out of really clever concrete and steel, and there were blueprints and engineers and spilt cups of coffee and heated discussions, but ultimately they're both just walls in a river. Clearly beavers couldn't make a hard hat or hold a polystyrene cup if they wanted too, but its a comparable endeavour, surely? Humans display very complex behaviours, but as far as I'm concerned, these are ultimately to achieve similar goals to the apparently simpler behaviours of our animal chums.
I think the fact that we have such a structured language is probably the main difference that causes out dams to be so much cooler. But apes seem to make a fair fist of language, so we aren't totally unique in this respect, except in the qualitative way.
This message has been edited by Tusko, 02-26-2005 11:58 AM
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