World Science Festival
Humans have a number of unusual traits that set us apart from other animals as Steven Pinker explains in this clip from the 2015 World Science Festival program “Planet of the Humans: The Leap to the Top.”
Watch the Full Program Here: http://youtu.be/V3IlnuMG39U
Original Program Date: May 29, 2015
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completely wrong title. he didn't describe any unique human trait.
Is it weird that I thought Steven Pinker died years ago? O.o
Pinker is a brilliant thinker, writer and speaker. Delightful. I admit I'm a tab bit envious of his talent.
In my analysis I am down to only two possibilities and one of them appears to be more probable.
Either:
1. We truly do have an eternal conscious existence somehow, someway, somewhere, in some state of existence in actual reality; (I acknowledge possible for there is much I and even all of humanity does not know yet); (And what exactly is "consciousness" anyway? And with a billion or so brain cells and a trillion or so brain cell connections, how does the energy signal know where and when to start, what path to take, and where and when to stop to form a coherent thought? Obviously it does, but how exactly does it do it?);
OR, and more probably it appears:
2. We truly do not have an eternal conscious existence. One day we die from something, a death that will last into an actual eternity. All of our "life" is just an "illusion" from the human perspective as far as eternity is concerned. Yes, life matters while we exist, and yes, our life may still matter to others after we are gone, but as far as eternity is concerned, it ceases to matter one day as there wouldn't be a conscious entity left for it to eternally matter to. Our true destiny would be to cease to exist and be forgotten.
But, which way is it in actual reality?
The analysis I did would suggest we die because "God" can't. It's the only way how "God" can experience death is by how it apparently is being done. This also is a human trait as well as for many other species too.
When, not if, the next jump in evolution occurs, (if it hasn't happened already and their numbers are just not large enough to be noticed yet), will they treat humans like humans treat "lower" evolved species and even other humans? Why wouldn't they?
The three basic choices any conscious entity has appears to be:
1. Help.
2. Hurt.
3. Neutral.
(And help and/or hurt whom?).
The advanced species would have these choices as well.
Any humans come up missing yet?
he is talking about specfic option in humans which is language and showing apes around (can't see the link). Weird unapproven theory: evolution.
All the unique traits Steven points out, language, tools, cooperation, are manifestations of only one unique trait, thinking, the ability to quantize incoming stimuli.
You can say similar things about any other species. They all have their special traits.