Humans are not superior

Discussion in 'Animism' started by plantsarepeopletoo, Jul 1, 2012.

  1. Alonso376

    Alonso376 Members

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    Maybe you.
     
  2. Alonso376

    Alonso376 Members

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    I've never seen an Oak tree or an Elephant in charge of a nation. Im afraid you are wrong my friend. As it stands at this point in the Earths long life, Human Beings are currently the superior species. But now is a very minute time period in the Earths history.
     
  3. Tishomingo

    Tishomingo Members

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    All values are "very subjective human values". To the best of our knowledge, we're the only species that has values.

    This statement seems pretty much meaningless. Humans are the only known species in the universe who have formulated the concepts of "superior" and "inferior". Pinning one or another of those labels on something may make it such by definition. But my dog can still outdo me when it comes to hearing things and smelling things. Xenophanes thought that if horses and oxen had hands and could draw pictures, their gods would look remarkably like horses and oxen. But they don't--have hands and draw..
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2020
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  4. themnax

    themnax Senior Member

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    except that every one of those "facts" is false (or at best only partially true) if examined objectively.
    for example, the ability to kill is orders of magnitude from "they die at our whim", nor are we unique in possessing it.

    in what way does the capacity to destroy our own means of existence make us "gods", especially as we would not have the capacity to survive doing so?

    no,
    the only thing unique to humans on earth, is our motivation to make so much furnature that we seldom see anything else,
    and by that means alone, enabling ourselves to imagine our selves a separate thing,
    for which there is no objective evidence to support.
     
  5. relaxxx

    relaxxx Senior Member

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    You know what, I'm fucking sick of this "Humans are the real disease" narrative. Life is nothing but a competition between various diseases. The last few generations of humans have all but dropped out of the race. The damn vermin that my grandparents nearly wiped out are taking over. Deer and raccoons and porcupines and coyotes oh my... I have three different types of fucking ticks in my field, been nearly crippled with lyme disease. Fuck nature to hell. If I had a magic button that annihilated all life forms non essential to humans, I'd smash that so hard! If we can't eat it or farm it or use it to farm... GONE! Fuck the circle of life, "oh no the frogs and the bats need mosquitoes..." Oh because fucking BATS are doing great things right now huh!? Fuck 'em all. I would eat soylent paste in a tube for the rest of my life if I could step outside without being assaulted by nature. Fucking mosquitoes and flies and yellow jackets dive bombing my damn face, fucking pollen allergies, fucking rats digging holes around my house... This is no way to live!
     
  6. Emanresu

    Emanresu Member

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    People seem to conflate different with superior. If we are holding a competition to design the best internal combustion engine, or to quickly solve written calculus equations then it is pretty clear that humans will beat every other animal we know of. If we are having a competition involving picking things up with our noses, then the Elephants will put us to shame. Elephants are not trying to evolve the ability to manufacture engines, and humans are not trying to evolve a nose that can do the amazing things that an elephant's trunk can do. Different doesn't mean superior, and each organism needs to be adept at solving the problems it actually encounters.

    Humans, just like every organism, are unique in their own ways. But one thing is clear, as of yet we have no real evidence suggesting that any non-human animal has any means of communication that is even remotely as complicated or adaptable as human language. Still that doesn't mean we are better, except at actual tasks involving that kind of communication.
     
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  7. themnax

    themnax Senior Member

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    this seems somewhat related:
     
  8. Tishomingo

    Tishomingo Members

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    This whole thread seems kinda strange. Value is a human invention. We're the only species that has them. I'm well aware that in terms of things I value, my dog has an edge on me in certain areas. He hears a lot better, has a keener sense of smell, and has damned good eyesight.Sometimes he seems to have X-ray vision. He was barking and carrying on the other day outside a building with nothing I could see to bark at, and after awhile a lady came out of the building he was barking at with a dog he hates. He could detect that dog inside the building! He can outrun me, and is damned strong for his size (a chihuahua). But one thing he doesn't do is sit around contemplating inter-species superiority. And he doesn't feed me or give me treats. Does that make him inferior, superior, or what? He also is somewhat delusional in thinking he's a Rottweiler--the canine equivalent of "little man syndrome"--another trait that sometimes makes him seem all too human.
     
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  9. themnax

    themnax Senior Member

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    we may be the only species we know of on our own world that has the particular advantages and disadvantages that we do, but knowing almost nothing about whatever life may exist in other solar systems, there is no logical reason to assume, this cannot or does not exist elsewhere. as for value, i'm not convinced that concept does not exist elsewhere, even among life forms with which we share our own planet. i agree, what i love about nature and other species, is their NOT trying to tell us what to pretend about what we don't know.
     
  10. scratcho

    scratcho Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    If ever our earthly remains and the remains of what we've built , discarded and mistreated are discovered by some other race of beings in the future, they will, I'm sure , have a very harsh opinion of the race called humans that occupied this planet for a short time. For they will see that for just the slightest tick of time that we existed, we somehow never really became a civilized race of beings.
     
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  11. zer0

    zer0 Members

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    The #1 criterion for "superior species" should be "one that can exist without fucking up the planet"

    I mean seriously. If you were an alien observing Earth from a distance, shouldn't that be the FIRST thing you look for?

    Every other species passes the test. Guess the 1 that fails.
     
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