It's a bit of a philosophical question, but what you believe makes us human? it can be anything, silly or serious, but please have fun. No putting down others posts, although you can say politely that you don't agree with them. (This may be a debate. I'm not sure.)

I believe it is our ability to come up with new ideas and make new connections between previously connected things. Other creatures can do it, but not to the extent that we do.
Agree? Disagree/ Something else entirely? Bring your answers!

I agree with what you said.

However, the way I'm going to put my beliefs on this is: humans are the only creatures (that we know of) who actually have a definition of even what 'thinking' is.
That makes us human, no other creature has our unique sense of reason or understanding. Nothing on our level, at least.

Our brain's size in ratio to our bodies/ complex DNA coding.

editz/

This is what makes us human.

What makes us ethically correct humans is a totally different matter. :/

But that's what makes us human.

In my opinion it's our capacity for dreaming; thinking beyond today into the ether of tomorrow. Tilly's answer is what makes us homo sapiens, I think being human is a bit more complex than that.

You always hear about seial killers lacking in bsic humanity, so maybe that would put being human squarely into the realm of being able to and having consideration for others thoughts and feelings. Dogs don't consider another dogs feelings about stealing their biscuit, they just do it and face the nip if it comes.

Just an idea . . .

The ability to make our own choices whether they are good or bad and dealing with the consequences.

Oh, and its just the way we were created that makes us human and not half/shark >,>

I like to keep an open mind and accept the possibility that there may be other intelligent life out there, ruling out intelligence.(I :heart: sci-fi) Looking at humans as a whole compared to other species I think it's our culture and approach to problems that makes us human, how we think and react. Morality, values, beliefs (love can be a belief) all play a part as well.

The ability to think is what is commonly attributed to making us human. Though some experiments have been done it has yet to be proven that any animal can think, Chimpanzees are the closest (however they have self awareness I.e. they look in a mirror and knows thats them in it)

However what sets us apart to me is pretty much our dominance over other animals. We consider ourselves above them in a plain sense.

I agree with Tilly on the biological perspective. The 23 chromosomes, DNA coding, etc is what makes us literally humans. Even philosophically, I don't believe there is a way to differentiate humans from animals, since they are capable of doing pretty much everything we can do.

Nothing. We're aliens. ^^

I think humans are different from animals in that we routinely make decisions that are not purely based on survival or reproductive instincts. These decisions lead to a set of cultures more complex and diverse than shown in any one species in the animal world, which I feel is another hallmark of humankind.

Well, to me, there are the obvious reasons of: we're bipedal mammals. We're homo sapien.

Then, there are the other things. Like you said, our ability to come up with new ideas. But I think it goes deeper to our ability to come up with new ideas and apply them. Animals, they come up with new ideas, but it is usually adaptations and instincts. We have solid thoughts and emotions.

Thumbs ^_^
And reasoning

We are human because of our species. Seriously. We aren't a dog, we aren't a lion, so we must be a human. Oh, that and the level of emotion and thought we possess.

What makes us human is our level of wisdom, intellect, and charisma; and mostly importantly our love. The desire to protect something for no other reason than sharing interests and thoughts, our friends and even closer lovers; that defines 'human' for me.

Our body shape. I think it's quite obvious we're not any other animal...Human is just the name we've given ourselves.
On a deeper level, finely tuned, stronger emotions, and thought processes also count towards it....The ability to rationalize, that sort of thing, that others have mentioned.

i'd say our eyes. our eyes lead into our mind and show we have intelligence or that we are an empty body. we we are alive our eyes are alive when we are dead our eyes go cold.

Humans have the ability to:

Use their thumbs in ways other species cannot, think ahead, predict, walk on two legs, higher set of emotions, language, social interactions, ability to build, adapt environment instead of adapting to it, and a list of other things. And if you are religious, we have a soul, when the things around us do not.

Man has called themselves not Homo Sapien, but Homo Sapien Sapien, the 'wise wise man'. Of course, I don't believe we're that wise. After all, we are destroying the Earth, and ourselves, along with every other species. Now, I don't use that title for myself, nor do I classify any other human as so.

Just out of curiosity Kazrai, what title do you use for us rather than homo sapien?

I agree that we're not wise, we're a destructive, over breeding, resource using plague, but it had never occured to me to use something different when generalizing us.

Just the way our cells are lined up.

The fact that we became the dominant species is just luck.

It could have been chipmunks.

Then we'd blame them for global warming.

I believe... what makes us human is how we see things. How we have the ability to act from more than just instinct. How we have the ability so SUPRESS those instincts as well. We're a lot more advanced than other animals because most of us believe in the greater good. We all have a different way of looking at things and because of such, we react differently towards it. I think that that's what marks us a sapient. I don't think that's what marks us as human.

What marks us as human is purely and simply our physical characteristic traits. The fact that our bodies all respond the same way to pain, the way our brains respond to pleasure. The fact that we all (for the most part) have 10 fingers and 10 toes. You can draw a line down the center of us and see a mirror image of the other side. Basically what makes us human is our physical similarities.

Everything that everyone has said is generally right. Humans are still animals... we are just more evolved, more intelligent, everything. We have thumbs, that's great, but chimpanzees and monkeys do as well. We have developed languages, but dolphins interact through clicks. We use guns, traps, anything to trap our "prey", but bats use sonar to find theirs. Humans are still animals, still something that grew out of the earth.

Don't get me wrong. I'm Catholic. I'm pretty neutral about both evolution and creationism... To me, what happened, happened.

A lot of religions say that what sets apart humans from animals is that we have immortal souls... consciences... and our ability to stay the dominant race. A lot of it is arguable, really. The answer to that, I think, is interpreted different for every person out there. -shrug-

i was told our ability to make desicions and choices seperate us from the animals

I dunno. I always found the idea that we named ourselves kind of odd.

I mean, we named our species something... just say it to yourself very slowly.

"I am human."

And not in the sense that we are creatures of thought and reason, but that that is what you are. It's a strange thought, isn't it?

My name for our race is 'human'. We are what we are, and we are superior because it is the way we were meant to be. If this was truly all by luck, then why isn't there any other beings on Earth as intelligent as us? Or even slightly with the ability, and technology we have. Humans are not just another animal that has evolved by chance. No, each human has trillions of cells, and each variation of cell is made to do something specific. 46 chromosomes that perfectly make us and keep us alive. Trillions of base pairs that code us. The speculation of such chance happening is atomically impossible. And for such thing to be with all species, plant and animal, it is more than impossible.

Humans are humans for we were placed here to be. Not chance, we are the failing caretakers of Earth. This is my belief, and I do not force it upon you. It is what I believe determines humans from all else.

What makes us human is the ability to "think", complete complex tasks and make a living, create buildings and think on a larger scale. Also, alot more responsibility and of course our dna and brain compacity.