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Post by sammy on Mar 29, 2010 14:15:01 GMT
you all have alot of really good points. it is hard to see what a animal might do similair to us as a society. we do have an up on smarts thats for sure and that gives us an advantage above the other animals in adapting to survive, or eat or be eaten. im reminded of the domesticated cat outbreak in australia, they never had regular cats in australia before the 90's they just werent in the habitat. but once people traveled enough the cat's started comming over and as we know some cat's WILL NOT stay in a house HAHA and so they got literaly infested with cat's. one : because the cat's were unthreatened by predators asside from the random tasmanian devil. Two : they had full range to eat and do what they wanted. after they spread they actualy opened a open shooting law to thin them out like the nutria in the south, because they had started jumping out of trees and attacking people. their problem is better now, but it shows me whether its toxic waste or just over eating we all have the potential to take it too far.
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Post by windtimber on May 27, 2010 23:57:13 GMT
Sentience perhaps? Self-awareness...
Then again, as Mark Twain put it in "Puddin' Head Wilson's Almanac" and alluded to above - "Pick up a starving dog, feed him, and he will not bite you. This is the principle difference between dog and man."
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Post by grigori on May 28, 2010 14:33:06 GMT
One interesting theory is that somewhere around 80,000-100,000 years ago, we developed the ability to understand and communicate via symbolism. This made both art and language possible. Words are a type of symbol, and just about everything else that separates us from the animals flows from our ability to communicate – to build up a base of knowledge and pass it from one generation to the next, constantly adding to it. So if you can find the earliest piece of artwork, you can make an educated guess when language evolved. It’s actually not a very big step from carving a tool -- like a knife or a spear head -- to carving an image of a person or an animal, which is a symbol. At the moment, this piece of ochre from South Africa is considered the oldest “symbolic” carving, dated to 75,000-80,000 years ago. The etchings on the side may just be some caveman’s way of saying, “this belongs to me.” Interestingly though, chimpanzees and gorillas have been taught to communicate with sign language and through special touch-screen computers, showing they have the inherent ability to understand symbolism, they just don’t use it much in the wild.
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ruffashlar
Member
Lodge Milncroft No. 1515 (GLoS), Govanhill Royal Arch Chapter 523 (S.G.R.A.C.S.)
Posts: 2,184
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Post by ruffashlar on Jun 2, 2010 14:59:40 GMT
"This belongs to me" is a very Modern, Western and 21st Century way of looking at things. Many peoples still living in the world think only of themselves as part of a group identity. Some even have no word for I or mine.
All of which is meant to convey this observation: that we probably have no idea what the markings mean, any more than we can guess how their maker saw themself and their place in the universe. In a sense, we will never know, and can never know. What we can say of these markings is the even simpler and tautologic assertion that they were intended to mean something. They were altered from their natural condition by an organising and art-making intelligence. And that is all we can say.
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Post by rembrandt on Jun 2, 2010 23:31:23 GMT
Interesting, what societies have no word for "I" or "mine?"
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KNOs1s
Member
I am inclined agree or disagree based on the quality and quantity of proffered information.
Posts: 1,330
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Post by KNOs1s on Jun 3, 2010 15:02:45 GMT
Property is an old, old idea amongst humans. Chieftains reserved the right to their wives, a share in the food, furs, shelter, &c. In fact, the idea of a slaveless and communal society is relatively new in the world. Communal toothbrushes have a long way to go. ;D
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Post by rembrandt on Jun 3, 2010 15:50:43 GMT
Sure enough competition for mates and resources is quite old and natural to our species, and pretty much all others.
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Post by teddyballgame on Jun 3, 2010 22:50:38 GMT
One difference is we wipe after BM's!
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Post by sammy on Jun 12, 2010 3:56:17 GMT
i think whats most interesting about that tablet to me is that it is almost identical to roman numerals in design, it doesnt at all seem like it would be numbers but just wierd their similar. thanks for posting that, was cool to see. wasnt there an original exploration reporting on oak island of a pale drawn out race of cave people that survived mostly on seafood and cave fish? speculation but would fit with humans ability to adapt to harsh enviroments. darwins vision fell short maybe? possibly our only difference has been that we felt that we can make things easier for others and have been trying to explain how to do that ever since. at any rate im glad the world is talking now I.E. T.V., internet, etc...
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Post by Zita on Jun 21, 2010 1:42:44 GMT
What's the difference between animals and mankind?
Mankind is the next step up. Mineral - vegetable - animal - human -> ? Interesting that there is the in between stage too... vegetable not quite animal, animal not quite human, human not quite.. ?
Also of interest is the the superior 'feeds upon' the inferior. Makes one wonder is the Earth itself is superior to that which lives upon it.
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Post by sammy on Jun 21, 2010 13:31:38 GMT
hmm very interesting point zita, i never thought about it before but your right. "vegetable not quite animal" like venus fly traps. it does seem inbetween is possible, like the possiblity of a vegetable thats closer to a mineral. But not full skips, a human mineral isnt as possible, or human vegatable for that matter. I think we have all seen a human not quite animal, and it's not pretty. people do prey because they will succeed alot of the time, but many of us have just tried to have a consequence waiting for those acts to make up for this. To us as human's more often then not size determines who will be eaten, and id say earth deffinately has the upper hand.
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