Are we special?
Ok, so I've just come from religion & ethics class, and I've gotten to thinking. Are humans special? Are we nothing more than a type of animal, or is there something else to us? Animals swim faster, jump higher, leap longer, run swifter and bite harder than us. They have better sight, hearing, sense of touch and smell, and they possess senses we don't even have, such as feeling magnetic fields and electrical currents.
But humans dream! So do animals.
But humans can write symphonies! So can whales and birds.
But humans can create materials like steel to help us build things! A spider's cobweb is lighter, softer and stronger per volume than steel.
But humans have... religion!
And that's the argument I'm struggling with. Yeah, we do. All known human cultures have traditionally borne some form of religious activity, be it animism, shamanism, theism, idolism or something else. I, however, can't feel a bit disappointed that this should be what makes a human so darn special. Whoppee, we carve a tiny figure of a fat woman, and thousands of years later find clever new ways to blow each other up, all because we're all just so darn special. Pardon me for not setting up the fireworks.
But humans dream! So do animals.
But humans can write symphonies! So can whales and birds.
But humans can create materials like steel to help us build things! A spider's cobweb is lighter, softer and stronger per volume than steel.
But humans have... religion!
And that's the argument I'm struggling with. Yeah, we do. All known human cultures have traditionally borne some form of religious activity, be it animism, shamanism, theism, idolism or something else. I, however, can't feel a bit disappointed that this should be what makes a human so darn special. Whoppee, we carve a tiny figure of a fat woman, and thousands of years later find clever new ways to blow each other up, all because we're all just so darn special. Pardon me for not setting up the fireworks.