Difference between man and animal

Originally posted by surfup

You could say male peacocks are doing the same thing.

You might be on to something, but is entering into a contract and the exchange of currency, which must be earned or obtained involving some pursuit or another, and could be used for an almost limitless number of other goods or services, for the express purpose of an orgasm unfettered by emotion or further obligation, the same as a display of feathers?

[edit on 04/11/29 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
You might be on to something, but is entering into a contract and the exchange of currency, which must be earned or obtained involving some pursuit or another, and could be used for an almost limitless number of other goods or services, for the express purpose of an orgasm unfettered by emotion or further obligation, the same as a display of feathers?

Yes.

By showing off your feathers you are asking the female peacock to come and mate with you. Male provides the sperm, while the female provides a place for the sperm. The female helps the male to pass on his genes to the next generation, while the male gives female the best sperm he can produce. That is a contract right there. Just as the girl goes the guy with more money, the female peacock goes the male with the most feathers.

While feathers can't be used for limitless other purposes, it has other purposes other than mating too like money. For example feathers could help peacock blend in with the entironment, limited flight and many others things we haven't discovered yet.

In som type of birds and animals, the male mates and then leaves, leaving the female with the responsibilities of the young. That is the same as the guy having sex and leaving. In animal's case the joy of orgasm is the joy of passing your genes to the next generation.

So it is the same, not exactly, but close enough if you ask me.

Surf

theres a difference, though. one is for purposes of reproduction, the other is for pleasure. the man wants pleasure, the male peacock wants the survival of peacocks. as for the ladies, the woman needs to do it for her own livelihood, the peacock needs to do it for the survival of peacocks.

itd be a better analogy if the human male fought another male, and won the girl like that.

Originally posted by Amorymeltzer
theres a difference, though. one is for purposes of reproduction, the other is for pleasure. the man wants pleasure, the male peacock wants the survival of peacocks. as for the ladies, the woman needs to do it for her own livelihood, the peacock needs to do it for the survival of peacocks.

itd be a better analogy if the human male fought another male, and won the girl like that.

Dolphins have sex for please if thats what your refering too I'm sure that Humans are not so unique in that regard.

Originally posted by Amorymeltzer
theres a difference, though. one is for purposes of reproduction, the other is for pleasure. the man wants pleasure, the male peacock wants the survival of peacocks. as for the ladies, the woman needs to do it for her own livelihood, the peacock needs to do it for the survival of peacocks.

itd be a better analogy if the human male fought another male, and won the girl like that.

True in peacock's case there is a difference, but some animals do have sex for pleasure, for example dolphins.

Surf

Originally posted by sardion2000
Dolphins have sex for please if thats what your refering too

I'm sure that Humans are not so unique in that regard.

Damn you beat me to it.

Surf

Humans have the superior brain, but we don't have much natural physical
defense or protection. We don't have large fangs, claws, or fur. We don't have wings like birds. No super vision like an eagle either.
Our superior brain is our natural defense.
Humans are also born more helpless than most animals and take longer to mature.

Originally posted by surfup
Yes.

While feathers can't be used for limitless other purposes, it has other purposes other than mating too like money. For example feathers could help peacock blend in with the entironment, limited flight and many others things we haven't discovered yet.

So it is the same, not exactly, but close enough if you ask me.

Does the peacock earn his feathers?

When you put on a fancy suit and dance for sex, that's called a date.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Does the peacock earn his feathers?
When you put on a fancy suit and dance for sex, that's called a date.

What do you mean earn them?

You mean work to get it?

Not exactly, it is like Bill gates son getting all the money without earning, it is genetics.

I never said humans and peacocks are the same, I only say they are similar.

Surf

Originally posted by LL1
Difference????
One kills with no regard or need, the other kills for necessity....

Actually I think why humans kill for no regard is because they have a higher brain capacity to maintain. If one goes kablooie he would kill for no reason. Sometimes people kill for money, for revenge, etc. Some wolves kill each other to get the female. Animals all fight for the female, leadership, and sometimes to protect another person such as themselves or a loved one.

not what i meant at all. believe me, i know dolphins have sex for pleasure. i even know a walrus (personally) who masturbates. as far as i can see, pure pleasure.

i was pointing out that you cant compare a sexual act for pleasure and a sexual act for procreation. the motives are completely different, the mode is different, and the act is completely different.

in todays science times, there was a piece that related pretty much directly to this thread.

Good dogs, bad people

basically, it says that one of the main differences is that animals font care what another animal does as long as it doesnt affect them. they dont feel compassion for their fellow dogs/cats/whatevers. the author goes on to refute this, citing a few reasons. all in all, i thought it presented both sides of an interesting argument and really represented the thread nearly perfectly.

[edit on 11/30/2004 by Amorymeltzer]

I think that for some qualities there is a continuum of consicousness between animals and humans. These would be emotional qualities. As for more developed abstract capacities, the humans are more advanced but not unique.
I have read that dogs can count (distinguish between small numbers), and that dolphins and primates have some conceptual capacity to be able to name different objects and express "sentences" that refer to those objects.
But perhaps animals don't really see us as we see ourselves. Perhaps animals see us in their own terms, as part of their environment, endowed with their qualities, just as we are not usually able to perceive gods with our human senses and concepts.
The greatest difference between animals and humans is the human capacity to make ethical choices.
This capability is like a "manual override" for all the inborn instincts. No matter what the previous habits are, at any moment a human being can make a choice. An animal doesn't have these degrees of freedom, its actions are more pre-determined.

I believe this has already been said by somebody in this thread, but: I'm not sure we really are any different from other animals/organisms on Earth.

In the end it would seem every action we take can be attributed to our desire to reproduce and pass on our genes. To carry on the species and continue to fill our niche in the enviroment. (Yes, I believe we have one.)

War: competition amongst nests of humans to aquire resources that will better help them (or some of them) live in a better enviroment, thus increasing their chances of survival and allowing them to even more sucessfully pass on their genes.

The arts: Mental satisfaction and stability which helps us to more easily aquire resources. These are also things like nationalism, patriotism, religion, and other things which motivate people to act.

I suppose that if you think about things in this way then there really is no such thing as morality. There is right and wrong though, but not in a moral sense; right is whatever increases the chances of the human race surviving (on many different levels), wrong would be things which decrease those chances, say enviroment-nuts (the hardcore extremists) who call for the extinction of the human race.

This leads me to ponder alot of questions... but I'm not sure they fit here, or if I should start another thread somehwere...

Sorry to wreck it for you but guns are the real difference and the fact that we destroy almost everything around us to get the feeling that we control it and are above it.

I wonder really why we get so caught up in figuring out how or why we are different then other creatures. Time is ticking the largest mass extinction of animals on the planet since the dinosaur age is happening right now... So we better hurry on up and figure out our differences before they are all dead except for the dogs, cattle, and pigs... Oh and the national bird of American freedom the Pigeon.

Originally posted by Peregrine
Sorry to wreck it for you but guns are the real difference and the fact that we destroy almost everything around us to get the feeling that we control it and are above it.

I wonder really why we get so caught up in figuring out how or why we are different then other creatures. Time is ticking the largest mass extinction of animals on the planet since the dinosaur age is happening right now... So we better hurry on up and figure out our differences before they are all dead except for the dogs, cattle, and pigs... Oh and the national bird of American freedom the Pigeon.

how... lifting.

i personally think its wrong to differentiate humans from animals using accomplishments. its self serving. it establishes humans as top of the chain, and then what? you have no method for enumerating animals after that.

if you instead try to judge on a fair basis, intellectual capability, skill, complexity, growth, etc., as a number of us have been doing, then you can compare all life. after all, by your methods, viruses and bacteria dominate. no brain, but, hey, theyve done more damage than anything else could ever hope to.