Sapience is something that is beyond the reckoning of science.
Scientists have been trying to define what that means but are unable
to simply because there are (a) No other creatures that have a complex
language and culture like humans do. (b) It is not something that can
be biologically explained. Forget for one moment that chimpanzees
cannot naturally pick up on social cues like dogs instinctively can
when I tell you that dogs have been domesticated for thousands of
years but are still mere animals because they cannot have a meaningful
conversation with us, be it verbally or manually. Plus they do not
have a natural affinity to formulate the ideas of right and wrong.
An ape can be trained to do sign language, but they can only convey
the simplest of thoughts. Not to be compared to a child because we
develop whereas an ape is capped in their mental abilities. The
mentally retarded are still sapient by the way because they can still
have a meaningful conversation with us and even formulate the idea of
right and wrong, albeit at a slow pace.
And if you're going to get into the destructive capacity of humanity
just keep one thing in mind. The Earth . . . no, the universe, can
throw out far more destructive actions that us humans ever could. That
being in the form of asteroids, gamma bursts, super novas, and black
holes. Whether it is intentional or accidental is total irrelevent.
Not everything can be explained in terms of biology. Some things are
simply beyond the realm of science.
And I am willing to bet that this sort of argument is going on upon
another planet somewhere out there among its own sapience race of
beings simply because a lot of them might be self-loathing (like I
once was, but got away from because it is so unhelpful).
People like myself are frequently accused of being arrogant. But it is
just AS arrogant to assume that were no different than animals. At
least we are capable of understanding right from wrong when an animal
is not. If we didn't then we would be carrying on the same way we did
hundreds and even thousands of years ago when warfare and casual
brutality was the norm.
All anthropomophism has done for me is to vigorously reinforce what I
have always believed since I was a child: Humans are NOTHING like
animals.
-Brandon Payne
Received on Sat Feb 17 2007 - 06:22:03 CST