What is it to be human?

Introduction

There can be no argument we are the dominant force on planet earth, the top of the food chain if you will, but what are the distinct characteristics of what it is to be human?  

In the upper echelons of the animal kingdom, such as in chimpanzees, elephants and whales we find the full range of human emotions. We can identify their dazzling array of sounds as if in songs, their learned behaviours, devotion to infants, long periods of nurturing, complex social orders and intelligence.

Hence any quest for distinguishing features can only conclude we do lack their rather obvious superior comparative physical strengths and enhanced tracking ability. In relation to the senses and navigation skills, as they pertain to birds and bats, they are vastly superior.

But in terms of technology we have observed many remarkable feats of nature that we have very successfully imitated in technology. So that on the material side we have an immense advantage in terms of technological power.   

That has resulted in human activity becoming such a dominant influence it risks decimating the environment upon which we depend for our existence.

The only difference one can reliably conclude in being human is our advanced use of language. That involves the ability to tell stories, so that we embrace narratives in our culture and construct monuments, until such time as new discoveries prompt changes.  

The hope is that narrative will continue to change markedly as we understand much better just how co-dependent we are on nature and the environment.     
Although there is a culture surrounding the animal kingdom, to date we don’t believe they are able to tell stories as we do. In all other respects one can demonstrate we are an amalgam of nature from which we evolved. Increasingly, when we look in the mirror of nature, we also see a reflection of ourselves. This is what I seek to demonstrate.     

Human reflections in the animal kingdom.     

Anthropologist Jane Goodall, remained defiant in her writings to attribute human characteristics or behaviours to animals, despite pleas from her editor, such was her passion for them. That’s because in her lifelong study of chimpanzees in the wild, she uncovered many startling new discoveries, from the fashioning and use of tools, to observing their complicated social hierarchy, in noting their development of friendships and the formation of a coalition of groups, even in preparation for warfare. 

Biologists also rate Octopuses, the smartest among the invertebrates, noting their impressive short and long term memories. Like us, their individual personality traits are passed on to their offspring through their genes and in learned behaviours. Their intelligence means they can die from boredom in captivity. One example was an octopus housed at the San Pedro Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, who removed the drain plug overnight from his tank and was found dead at the bottom the following morning.

In another German aquarium, Otto, has a habit of squirting water onto the light above his tank, which short-circuits the lights in the building. He only does this in the winter when the aquarium is closed and boredom sets in. Additionally he juggles hermit crabs, throws rocks at the glass, and redecorates the enclosure by moving everything around into different locations.

In a research centre in Pennsylvania an octopus, registered a dislike for the food provided - upon return of the researcher, the octopus waited until eye contact was made, then proceeded to shove the food down the drain.

There are numerous other examples of their cognitive ability, to annoy staff, shield themselves from visitors and escape from jars. Ingenuously, large octopuses have been observed squeezing through an opening the size of a walnut escaping from a large jar, to move across the deck of a research ship, to freedom and into the open sea.

They form life-long bonds with their keepers whilst in captivity and register their emotions by changing colour in pleasure. They engage with those to whom they are familiar whilst ignoring others.

Researchers think their cognitive ability is linked to the evolutionary branch that favoured cleverness over physical size and strength, since they have no natural defence against larger predators.    

Material progress of mankind.

However, considering the magnitude of our material advancement, might not technological capability be a unique characteristic?
But that in turn, is mired in the half a billion years of evolution, with the very recent fork favouring cognitive ability over strength and physicality. For one could ask the same question as to why certain indigenous tribes existed at one level versus others, who, very late in the cycle, ushered in a mechanized age. If we compare the relative cognitive abilities there is no difference. Rather, it is the different cultures exhibiting factors relating to inventiveness, triggered by way of a necessary adaptation in one region as opposed to another, which remained largely self-sufficient and isolated. That region might remain hostage to the more basic tools such as stone axes and so forth, cut off from the cultural influence of the other tribes and their slow advancing technology.   

Language

The question then arises as to the only discernible difference which relates to the use of language. The question is do animals have a language? 

That depends of course on how you define a language and although animals have been demonstrated to have a language of sorts, most scientists think it is confined to the present time and space.

That is, animals use different sounds to warn of dangerous situations or to identify objects, whose dialects might be specific to certain clans and signal a call to learned behaviours. 

But we can’t identify any ability to string together a series of sounds so as to denote an abstract idea. That might be the case, but we have no evidence for it. Certainly they can remember a complicated sequence and apply it to find a solution and adapt ingeniously to improvise. Such an example is crows placing nuts in front of traffic stopped for red lights so that the vehicles subsequently crack open the nuts for them. 

There is any number of examples where some species can think and learn quickly how to solve complex puzzles. What we don’t know is the extent to which animals can associate past events and stories as they relate to their current existence, as we do routinely. For instance, what is going on in the minds of elephants observed mourning over old bones of the long since deceased? 

To be human is to exhibit a fascination and wonderment about everything, which potentially increases with experiences. But this is more a question of degree, since we can find ample evidence of this in the animal kingdom. What seems to be a marked discernible difference, is in the cognitive ability to share and tell stories which can make a material difference to our future. 

According to researches into early childhood development, storytelling uniqueness begins from the first communicative exchanges, in language, that shape the infant mind.

As those communicative exchanges take place, in play and interaction with a mother and others, the child, in whatever language it is born into, tells itself a story. It gives each person a unique sense of self. That in turn allows us to make more sense of the world as we grow up and interact more and more with the wider world as we reach maturity.

Conclusion 

That innate ability to tell ourselves stories from very early on, to develop further in complexity in the sense of a unique self, is a distinguishing feature to that of the animal kingdom. 

That sense of self, able to adapt to the myths and stories that change with new discoveries, gives expression to what it is that makes us human.

The hope is we will continue to develop that narrative, so that increasingly a tribal perspective diminishes, to acknowledge our universal dependence on nature and the land for our existence.