--- In [email protected], "hugheshugo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "endlessrainintoapapercup" > <endlessrainintoapapercup@> wrote: > > > > --- In [email protected], "hugheshugo" > <richardhughes103@> wrote: > > > > > > > > > I like to be optimistic and think there is millions of planets > with > > > life out there but I wouldn't be surprised if we were the only > > > intelligent creatures, it really is a fluke that we got this > smart. > > > > > > I realize that "intelligence" is a relative judgment, > > but I have to say that I don't think we're so smart. > > We say that we are, but we're entirely biased. > > It doesn't seem very smart to destroy the planet > > that gives us life...or to be unable to get along > > without destroying each other. > > You're quite right, we judge intelligence only against other life but > compared to other animals we're streets ahead, but I think people > only really relate and identify with small groups, after all we spent > 99% of our eveolution living in small tribes. Hence all the wars now. > > A big mistake people make about evolution is that we are > somehow "finished", all religions tell us how important we are and > how we are made in gods image but that's just our vanity, really we > are just a bodge-up of compromises on a journey to a destination we > can't even guess at. I'm guilty of feeling like I'm some sort of > important life-form but I know I'm not really, in a few million > years (or a few hundred if we're not careful) we'll be gone, just a > temporary blip in the history of the world. It's important to keep it > in perspective. > > But then, there is something different about us. Abstract thought is > the key, I think. And that is probably due to having such advanced > speech capapbilities compared to other apes. It's all down to the > descended larynx.
There actually is research data now that supports abstract reasoning in other life forms, even in those with brains the size of a grain of sand. Also the acknowledgement of emotion. Even Darwin said the difference between our mental capacities and those of other animals was a matter of degree and not kind. A good book that addresses this issue and refers to research is "Intelligence in Nature: An Inquiry into Knowledge" by Jeremy Narby. > > Destroying the planet sure aint smart but nuclear power is, whether > we blow ourselves up or not is more down to values. Maybe the need to > survive will one day outweigh the love of money and we can start > saving the world. Cosmically speaking it doesn't matter that we are > causing a massive extiction at the moment, but it seems painfully sad > to me that we have so little respect and so many amazing life forms > are now gone forever, and the fact it's all getting destroyed for the > sake of cars, cheeseburgers, pepsi and cigarettes drives me wild. > Maybe it would be better if we died out real soon. Apparently there are others who agree, and who think it would be best if humans experienced a 100% extinction event. I'd rather survive, but it is hard to see the heedless destruction and lack of sensitivity toward all life forms and Mother Earth. > > It's funny how I always say "we" like I know how a nuclear power > station works when I can barely tune bicycle gears ;-) > > > > > Just think of the string of events that all had to happen to lead > to > > > us being the only animals in the history of earth with > consciousness, > > > it's got to be billions to one against. > > > > > > Do you really mean to say that we are the only > > animals on earth that are conscious? I have to > > disagree. We're not even the only animals with > > language, culture, and tools. > > Agreed, it's a matter of degrees between us and other animals but we > are the only animals with such a sophisticated consciousness, don't > you think? > > The point is, would any other animal have developed as far as we > have? There have been plenty of opportunties, what got us the extra > step to being actually sentient like nothing else before? We are > unique in that and it's obviously rare. How we got like this is a > long complicated and not fully understood story, but it was no > different to how any other animal got like they are, just a different > adaptation to new conditions. It couldn't have been predicted and may > well never happen again and, because it was such a fluke here, maybe > hasn't happened anywhere else. > > > > >
