Are humans really the only being that knows it will die?

Animals know they will die when the time is near (instinct) and just get on with what they need to do to prepare (ie find a sheltered area, etc.). Humans have a better understanding of life and death as we do not just rely on instinct but have evolved from that. As we anticipate death from the moment we understand life is ephemeral, we dwell on it and worry about how and when, will it be painful or slow or mercifully quick, what happens after (if anything), etc.

So no, humans are not the only being that knows it will die. They just 'know' it differently.

dunkman wrote:

decides2dream wrote:

animals DO know about the cycle of life, probably in a better, healthier understanding than we've ever had or will have. it's quite clear. their survival instinct is so strong, and they are ingrained to reproduce, to protect their offspring fiercely and to prepare them to live on their own. their lives are filled with death, constantly.

this could be the same for humans. we are ingrained to reproduce, we protect our children firecly and we then try and prepare them for life on their own.. and humans lives are constantly filled with death.

to say animals have a better understanding is a bit hippy, oh the clouds in the sky kinda crap.. cos dolphins are meant to be the second most intelligent species of life on the planet yet they still get stuck in tuna nets and as yet have not invented cars. ergo... they are quite dumb... just one dolphin needs to invent a tuna net radar thingy and they'd rule the fucking planet. :thumbup:

maybe they don't want to rule the planet?
that's definitely a human thing - ego.

and humans do some pretty dumb shit too, so yea....that's across the board, all species.



btw - there are plenty of examples of humans NOT doing those things, at all. unfortunately, quite the opposite sometimes.



i just think animals are not as weighed down with it all and just live. obviously, it's all about a human higher consciousness, but that is neither good nor bad, better or worse...just different.

eyedclaar wrote:

Yeah, but no animal consciously makes decisions to destroy its own habitat. Humans do. We have the ideology of the cancer cell. Metastasize (we call it growth and progress) until we kill our host. We are smart enough to make better decisions, but we don't, ergo, how smart are we really?

too true!

PJTouringGirl wrote:

decides2dream wrote:

animals DO know about the cycle of life, probably in a better, healthier understanding than we've ever had or will have. it's quite clear. their survival instinct is so strong, and they are ingrained to reproduce, to protect their offspring fiercely and to prepare them to live on their own. their lives are filled with death, constantly. the fact that they don't sit around contemplating the lint in their bellybuttons as humans do...hell, just points to the fact that, imo, they know what's truly important in life; just living.

LOL...Decides...I'm pretty darned sure that my cat contemplates the lint (among other things) in his belly button on a perpetual basis :roll:

he's got ya fooled....;)
(he's contemplating sucking out your breath while you sleep...not his own navel lint)
:shock:

catefrances wrote:

well ill have to take your word for that you crazy scotsman.. i dont go around smelling the shit of peacocks.

dunk can't help it.
he works at a peacock petting zoo.

eyedclaar wrote:

chadwick wrote:

catefrances wrote:

well ill have to take your word for that you crazy scotsman.. i dont go around smelling the shit of peacocks.

dunk can't help it.
he works at a peacock petting zoo.

Is that a place where people stroke really small cocks?

apparently, yes it is.
strokin' the tiny ace and sniffin bird shit... good times.

@Hammerdonkey

Is all that really necessary?

Play nice :roll:

Hammerdonkey wrote:

I think I've started this conversation with someone else on here, but why is there a need for some humans to feel like they have to apologize for being the ones that have opposable thumbs and cognitive thought abilities?

What's mind boggling is that a chimp can recognize a few colors and learn a handful of words using sign language and he's the smartest motherfucker that ever lived. Really? My 2 year old can operate a fucking iPhone like he worked for Apple.

I like animals. I do realize that many of them can kill me in a second. But, I can take a shit in a toilet and whipe my ass clean. A lion can't do that. It makes me superior. I don't apologize for being human. Hopefully some of you will be reincarnated into a German Shepard and I can whipe your nose in shit when you drop a log in my living room. We'll see how goddamn smart you feel with nostrils full of your own feces.

Hammerdonkey wrote:

I understand that some people love animals. But seriously, there's no need to try to lay guilt on the human race for being born in a hospital instead of being dropped from a giraffe in the middle of a field in Africa. There is zero need to question why you were born a human. I like most animals. They're cute and they offer some points of fascination. I'm just not going to feel bad for not being one.

who's apologizing? :?


and, you are holding that chimp/lion/dog to the human level of intelligence and way of life, which is not the only kind of intelligence/way of life out there. in many ways, our intellect is narrow, b/c it is only focused on us, and our own egos and apparent need to discuss our superiority any chance available. it has nothing to do with loving animals, or wishing one wasn't born human....happy to be a person, thank you....it is simply acknowledging that we are not the end-all be all, and showing respect and appreciation for other species, and other intelligences. it's not all about anthropomorphizing animals.

Hammerdonkey wrote:

Ahh yes....D2D, I should have known. Well, just because there are other forms of intellect doesn't mean we're not the end all be all of creation either. We'll just agree to disagree. Animals are cute...and delicious.

doesn't mean we are, either.
i'd put me $$$ on not, but yes....agree to disagree.
the fact that this big ole globe would keep on spinnin', even thriving, without us here...for me...means...we are not the end-all, be-all. we're just another species in the interconnected world of life.
tho i do agree, many animals are cute, many are delicious....and all deserve some respect.

Yeah, I don't apologize for being born a human. Hell, as far as humans go, I'm a pretty decent one. Still, if Waffle (my deity) put a red button in front of me and said pushing it will simply erase all mankind and all of his works, I would push that button in a heartbeat. That means I erase not only my wife, but myself as well. I'm ok with that. Why? Because humans are bad for this planet and there are significantly more of them every day. There is also significantly less room and resources to sustain them... every day. Exponential population growth is not going to stop. I think we can all agree there is not an infinite supply of resources to sustain that (geologically speaking) for much longer. If you think of the devastation man has wrought upon the lifeforce that actually sustains him for even just the last 300 hundred years (blink of an eye!) combined with the aforementioned exponential populaton growth, I come to one conclusion. Our species doesn't jive with long-term success on this world. That would be fine with me if we were just killing ourselves, but we're not, we are taking everything with us. Everything, most importantly the futures of our own children. I won't have children because I refuse to bring them into a world where the quality of life is so comprimised from what even I experienced such a short time ago.

So yeah, how smart are we?

My whole artistic philosophy is built around this subject. I can talk about it for days...