zerostart

In a recent discussion with a friend he brought up the question "Why is it that Humans are so much more advanced than other animals? Why are we the only ones who can reason?" He said that we are the only things that show reason, that others like a squirrle will just run out in the road and get squished.

Seeking reasoning from you smart folks :notworthy

I am a long time browser of these forums and enjoy the discussions very much!

Karalora

The question is based on a false premise. Humans are not the only animals that can reason.

Jet Black

well humans just run out onto roads and get squished too, as road deaths every year sadly testify. Humans also do alot of unreasonable things too. To cut the story short though, humans are the only animals that found themselves in a position where the evolution of our brains into what they are now was possible and beneficial (in the short term)

Roland98

And of course, reasoning skills are only one form of "advancement." Other organisms are much better at other things than we are.

zerostart

any examples of others? thanks!

zerostart

Also, why are we the only ones developing more and more, I can see us building colonies on the moon and mars in the future, but the birds will still be living in the rain in the trees.

ZouPrime

A lot of other animals have been proven to exhibit reasoning behaviors in various experiences, such as some monkeys, birds, dogs, etc. Obviously, their intelligence cannot be compared to us, but the important point is that our differences are in term of degree, not essence.

Human's intelligence is just a reproduction strategy that worked. Some species bet on their high reproduction rate, and in a lot of case it works too. There isn't much to add to the debate, because it's a simple as that.

Sven

You perhaps confuse development because of reason with development of reason. Humans 10 000 years ago could have very well build colonies on the moon (they had the same reasoning abilities as we today), only the knowledge was missing.

Examples for animals which have the ability to reason? Every other primate. Some birds. Perhaps there are more - just wait for the experts.

ZouPrime

Beware, that has nothing do to with biological evolution. We don't "evolve" more rapidly than other species (in fact, we could argue that we're probably pretty bad in that domain). Our intelligence helped us develop our technology, and we're still experiencing with this formidable tool.

Note that some birds have been seen using primitive tools to build their nest. Of course, because of their limited intelligence and their inhability to record their reasoning, I don't think they can get any better.

Donnmathan

Another animal that can reason: dolphins. I wouldn't be too surprised to learn that they are every bit as smart as we are, but the lack of manipulators has kept them from following our path to technology.