Humans are egotistical when it comes to god.

Originally posted by Nemesio
No you don't. A person who feels guilty, especially one who feels
guilty because they have rationally discerned what they are doing is
wrong, will change his/her actions.

It is because you value the sensation of meat on your tongue greater
than the harm that you acknowledge and validate that you continue to
eat meat.

You don't feel guilty. You are just saying that to make yourself feel better.

Nemesio

Yeah, sorry, actually you are probably right, on all accounts. 😳

Originally posted by bbarr
In what sense are we better than animals?

In the same sense you are better than a rock.

Originally posted by KellyJay
Spiderman would be proud, but among animals is that true, do the
loins care about when they eat a zebra when they have the power
to do so? Will they not act without regard to what will happen later
just because that is how they eat? If we know better, there is a reason
for that, because we are.
Kelly

Exactly, but only in the sense of morals.


I don't like it when when people make blanket likes 'we are better than animals in every conceivable way' we just aren't.
For example, to date clearly we cannot fly through the air as efficiently as birds, but we have better morals than them? Of course we do.

Originally posted by whodey
In the same sense you are better than a rock.

Nonsense.

Originally posted by bbarr
In what sense are we better than animals?

I'm mainly thinking intelligence wise here, clearly in this area humans are better.
However, I do recognise animals are better than us in a lot of different ways.

Originally posted by whodey
In the same sense you are better than a rock.

Better how? Better for what? Better in and of myself? Better in that I'm intrinsically valuable? Your analogy is both unhelpful and indicative of a real lack of reflection on your part. Do you even understand what you're trying to say?

Originally posted by KellyJay
You put a spot on an animal, how do you know that spot isn't causing
a reaction outside of the spot being seen, even we don't always scatch
and itch as soon as it is felt? It is again an animal mind reading
guessing game!
Kelly

Sceptical about everything except the one thing you should be.

Originally posted by bbarr
Better how? Better for what? Better in and of myself? Better in that I'm intrinsically valuable? Your analogy is both unhelpful and indicative of a real lack of reflection on your part. Do you even understand what you're trying to say?

If you say something is "better" than something else you are implying that something has a greater value than the other. How then do we establish value? Value to what or to whom? For example, lets say the rock in question is a 3 pound diamond. From my perspective is it "better" than you?

Originally posted by Bad wolf
Nonsense.

Prove it.

Originally posted by whodey
Prove it.

You made the claim. It's up to you to provide evidence.

Originally posted by scottishinnz
You made the claim. It's up to you to provide evidence.

On the one hand you have bbar. On the other hand you have a rock. What makes one better than the other? They simply exist.

Originally posted by KellyJay
Being aware does take upon it different levels does it not?
I'm not at all suggesting animals are not aware at some level
any more than insects, since they take care of their own
needs as in food and so on for themselves and their young,
an animal will scratch when it itches and so on too. Instinct
and so on are like programmed responses, with people y ...[text shortened]... hip roll, there
will be fights for the top X status and all that brings to each
group.
Kelly

As far as I'm concerned humans have been programmed by nature to think, with our large brains, our intelligence, we can consider all of the different factors and consequences would take and take appropriate action; instead of just making rash, quick decisions instinct would make.

If you can think of instinct as the base code of all life, some call it the 'lizard brain', these instincts can include reproduction, the drive to procreate in animals.
Humans have this drive, less than perhaps most animals, but it exists.
Now intelligence, what I think we have that is better than any other life form on Earth (well area 51 might have a few E.T.s locked away, but let's ignore that for now...lol), this intelligence can override our instincts, it recognises the factors involved, and the possible consequences, and we are able to make a more informed decision. Thus allowing for all of our complex social interactions, that animals cannot make at a comparable level.
Continuing the analogy of computers, you could call intelligence a learning computer program, a program that learns new things over time.

I would think that the smarter animals, the animals with a lot of complex social animals would have a lot of intelligence, primates having a lot compared to all other animals. Ourselves being the very top of this.
We still somewhat rely on instincts, let's say that you burn yourself, in no way do you think about what you should do, you just do it, the reaction doesn't even come from your brain, it is from your brain stem, surprisingly...
Animals that aren't intelligent, rely on their instincts pretty much totally instead.

Originally posted by whodey
Prove it.

You in no way have explained yourself, your reasoning, it makes no sense to me: hence nonsense.

Or just use a dictionary:
http://tinyurl.com/2xf8ut
I like the the 1st and 5th one.

Originally posted by whodey
On the one hand you have bbar. On the other hand you have a rock. What makes one better than the other? They simply exist.

"Better" is a comparative word. The rock is better than Bbar at staying in the same place for hundreds of thousands of years. Bbar is better at, let's say, counting to 10.

Originally posted by Bad wolf
Exactly, but only in the sense of morals.


I don't like it when when people make blanket likes 'we are better than animals in every conceivable way' we just aren't.
For example, to date clearly we cannot fly through the air as efficiently as birds, but we have better morals than them? Of course we do.

Better can be used a thousand different ways, and many of them are
not true, small example birds (some of them) fly or swim better than
all people. I think value is a better word after thinking about it, we are
better in many ways, but more valuable in my opinion is a better way
to view it. There isn’t an animal I think I’d put above any human as
far as save the animal before I’d save a human.
Kelly