Comments | spriksie: Awe-inspiring.

spriksie

Awe-inspiring.

Dec 13, 2006 16:12

There is an interesting proposition that I learned in my humanities class. Human beings are capable of self destruction -- fascinating, no? As a specie, we are able to destroy ourselves and our worlds. How many species actually are capable of this? Okay, really, I guess you can argue a lion can roll over and start chewing on itself, but as a whole ( Read more... )

ups and downs, #1, love

Comments 9

goatee0092 December 23 2006, 08:41:34 UTC

Keep on twisting! The results are definitely worthwhile!

ryunokoe December 26 2006, 07:52:54 UTC

Maybe intentional self-destruction would be an important qualifier. Things like hardcore drugs, cigarettes, dangerous hobbies like skydiving, etc. They have nothing beneficial to offer if used, and only serve to shorten your life expectancy.

Other things that I find to be uniquely human -

Hate.
Apathy.
Greed.
Cultism.

And, perhaps most importantly... Laughter.

spriksie December 28 2006, 00:48:15 UTC

You think that laughter is unique to human beings? Do you not think that animals laugh at times? Or hate? Or feel apathy, or greed?

Cultism... I'm not sure if this is something found among the animal kingdom. However, I think that most living creatures are capable of emotions, even love. In fact, there's many animals that have mastered love better than human beings, as crazy as a proposition as that might be. I think two dolphins (a highly intellectual creature!) love each other more than a sick human being, like Hitler, ever felt love.

No animal is capable of destroying their entire species though... not that I can fathom, anyway. It truly is a grand power we have, a huge responsibility to uphold. It makes the positive qualities of human life all the more crucial.

ryunokoe December 28 2006, 20:57:33 UTC

It seems we're not using the same definitions of hate, apathy and greed ( ... )

spriksie December 28 2006, 21:06:57 UTC

No, I wouldn't say that keeping things for survival is greedy. However, what about animals that are completely full, and will continue to eat when there are others around them that are starving? Lions are an example of this. A more domestic example would be the geese over at a park. If you ever feed bread to them, you will see they are enormous, obese for their body structure, in comparison to a wild goose that does not have food readily handed to them. Still, even though they have enough to eat plus some, they will choose to take more away from the smaller birds that are not so fortunate ( ... )

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