Half baked observation
--What makes hu-men different--
We are not the only animals with thumbs, we are not alone in making conversation, we are not the only ones to use tools and tear up the earth to remake our environment.
We aren't the only creatures who farm, who keep other species for food or slaves, who make plastic, green house gasses, explosives, or war.
In most things, we are different from the other species only in the broad variety of our mediocre skills, the quality of our applications, and the rapaciousness of our attack on the Earth and its resources.
We do have a few developments that the other creatures do not.
Our writing, unlike scent marking, survives the rain, and the communication based on it can be passed to a place where the writer has never been, to a person the writer has never seen. It can even survive the grave.
And money is unique. Not tokens per se, because pack rats, apes, birds, and the like use otherwise useless parts of their environment for gifts or display to represent useful things like food. Not the objects representing money but the concept itself.
We are the only creatures to establish a system whereby we can do a favor for someone we have not met, we can exchange our services in advance of doing them, or long after they have been done, we can store up the "what have you done for me lately," and we can make a trade for something we haven't seen with someone we have never contacted.
Side note: I wonder why the highest pay goes to people who make noises or participate in ritual contests, rather than those who produce necessities or defend us.
But lately I have noticed one more difference.
Are we the only creatures who hide our permitted sexual activity from members of our own species?
We are not the only creatures who try to prevent coupling by other members of our species, and we are not the only ones to hide our activity if we are trying to do it against the rules, but does anyone know if there is another species where the members who are supposed to be allowed to couple hide that activity?
We are not the only animals with thumbs, we are not alone in making conversation, we are not the only ones to use tools and tear up the earth to remake our environment.
We aren't the only creatures who farm, who keep other species for food or slaves, who make plastic, green house gasses, explosives, or war.
In most things, we are different from the other species only in the broad variety of our mediocre skills, the quality of our applications, and the rapaciousness of our attack on the Earth and its resources.
We do have a few developments that the other creatures do not.
Our writing, unlike scent marking, survives the rain, and the communication based on it can be passed to a place where the writer has never been, to a person the writer has never seen. It can even survive the grave.
And money is unique. Not tokens per se, because pack rats, apes, birds, and the like use otherwise useless parts of their environment for gifts or display to represent useful things like food. Not the objects representing money but the concept itself.
We are the only creatures to establish a system whereby we can do a favor for someone we have not met, we can exchange our services in advance of doing them, or long after they have been done, we can store up the "what have you done for me lately," and we can make a trade for something we haven't seen with someone we have never contacted.
Side note: I wonder why the highest pay goes to people who make noises or participate in ritual contests, rather than those who produce necessities or defend us.
But lately I have noticed one more difference.
Are we the only creatures who hide our permitted sexual activity from members of our own species?
We are not the only creatures who try to prevent coupling by other members of our species, and we are not the only ones to hide our activity if we are trying to do it against the rules, but does anyone know if there is another species where the members who are supposed to be allowed to couple hide that activity?