I am reading a book in which it is claimed that it is fire that helped people
to expand and take over the world, in that they could exploit new sources of
food, new climates, new forms of warfare.  Another book I am reading claims
that language is what makes humans so successful, in that it allows them to
form larger and more powerful groups.   There are lots of statements about
what makes humans unique - opposed thumb, tool use, consciousness, omnivorous
diet, and what made certain groups more powerful than others - the horse, the
wheel.  What do you think has made it possible for humans to take over the
planet?  Any or all of the above, other ideas?  Is there any one thing that
makes humans different from all other animals?

15 responses total.

What about religion?  What is the predominant religion of the most progressive
country.  Etc. for least progressive.  Same question for in between.  Define
progressive.  Does a country do better with several religions or one?

I think that the progress of man was more due to curiousity and the ability
to reason, than due to the tools he had.  And I think that these two reasons
are the driving force that caused man to travel to different parts of the
world.  He wanted to see what was around the next bend. I know animals have
curiosity also, but possibly their curiosity is driven by instinct.

The book I am reading suggested that the ability to reason developed as a sort
of side effect of the need to use language, and that Neanderthals had little
language ability and not as capable brains.  Moving into new territory is
common for all animals and is driven by population pressure, the need for more
food when you have a larger group.  Supposedly by 20,000 BC or so people had
filled up all the available space, and the only solution left was to find a
way to get more food out of the same space.  First they learned to control
the animals that could eat food that they could not, in the large dry grassy
areas that are still not good for growing food plants in.  Then they learned
to encourage certain food plants to grow, possibly using fire to clear the
forests.  Supposedly the North American continent had a lot of open land when
the Europeans arrived that was due to the natives setting fire and making
clearings to grow food.

Out of curiosity, what evolutionary changes have occurred in humans since
written history (not counting drawings) began?

What year would you like to consider the start of written history?

A time when the remains of humans could be correlated with a written record.
Hieroglyphics would do.  

I wonder what types of changes would be conclusive based on bone changes. 

I wonder if people have developed more resistance to diabetes in the last few
centuries.  And if overall vision is getting worse now that there are
eyeglasses.  My guess is that overall health is going down, now that there
is so much less natural selection for problems of all sorts, and people who
might not have survived to adulthood are having children.  The natural
environment has certainly changed with cities.

People have become much taller, even in the past 300 years... some of us are
actually begining to outgrow our frames, which is why humans today have so
many knee and back problems, espcially tall people.  (I say this as if I were
a tall person with this problem... I'm not, I'm barely 5'4".... *shrug*) 
After all, our frames were origanally designed for walking like the other
primates, and as we've straightened and streched, we've weakened those frames
somewhat, or at least caused stresses on them that aren't good for them.  (For
proof that we've gotten taller, go to a historic farm house-- the doorways
tend to be less accomidating to tall people.)  (I get most of this from the
orthopedic surgon who worked on my father's back a number of times.)

What I have read is that the overly rich high-protein diet, especially in this
century, is one factor for people growing larger.  Another is that there is
far more mixing of gene pools, at least in this country, but probably anywhere
where people are moving from villages to far-off cities.  This eliminates
cases where you have two bad copies of one gene, promoting overall health,
and making you grow larger.  My grandfather was short, under 5'4", but he has
two grandsons 6"4" and 6'5".  My grandfather grew up on Poland in the last
century, my cousins were fed a very carnivorous diet.  IN my grandfather's
generation, where people lived in ghettos, it was common to marry a cousin
(we have this in the family tree).
        Taller/bigger people can conquer people who are smaller, and also tend
to be chosen as supervisors, but it is not healthier to be taller.  As faile
said, you get more back and knee problems, and foot problems.

I saw a program where a man said that dress makers have made dress a size
larger than the size reads.  This has happened in a couple of generations.
Foot sizes of women in the last century averaged size 3.  With changes like
these in a couple of hundred years or less,  one would think greater changes
would be obvious in one or two thousand years.

I think the dress size thing is so women will feel smaller, not necessarily
because they have become bigger.  But I also have an old Bloomingdale's
catalog from the 1880s where shoes ran up to size 6 for women.  I wonder how
much gene mixing there was before this century, esp. in other countries.  I
read that in some villages in Italy people have very similar genes, these are
hill towns that nobody from outside the region would marry into.

I have heard that some Amish men folk have six fingers.  Locally there are many
Amish but I have not seen any with six fingers.  The Amish (local) have begun
to seek marriage partners from Amish in other regions.

I think you need to word the original question, "What makes us human?" in a
different way.  We are human because our parents were.  Actually what are you
getting at?

What makes humans different from all other animals?  Used to be people said
"because they have a soul" (which justified killing and eating all other
animals but not people, unless you were killing them for the glory of God,
of course, which seems to still happen nowadays).  Is there any one
difference, such as language, or is animal language not that much different?
Chimpanzees also use tools for prying things out of holes, as do some birds.
Animals such as bower birds can be artistics.  Lots of squirrels build homes.

If one wanted to be obscenly biological about it, one could say that we are
human because of the particular genetic structures which cause us to be
such....  but then, why should that make us live in stone, brick, and wood
buildings rather than trees and eat dead cow, instead of the cows living in
the well constructed buildings and us grazing in the feilds?  Silly question,
I know....

What makes humans different from all other animals?i think that we are
differents because the differences between us and i in Holy Bible says that
we are made on image and semelhance of God.and we have concience about we do
.the capacity to love and help the smallers.

I have heard many stories of pets who help their owners, and animals also
sacrifice themselves for their children.  Is this not love?
Please also visit the agora conference and start an interesting discussion
there.  If you need help to start a discussion, you can email me
(keesan@grex.org).  

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