• Question: What makes us human?

    Asked by 983bsmf24 to Thomas, Hazel, Elliot on 22 Jun 2016. This question was also asked by 296bsmf29.
    • Photo: Thomas Biggans

      Thomas Biggans answered on 22 Jun 2016:

      This is a great but very difficult question,

      Some might say what makes us human is our biology, the way our bodies are made up, the particularly characteristics of our DNA.

      Personally I think what makes us human is that we can ask that very question, we can think about whether something is right or wrong, as well as whether or not its possible. We can think about our own interests but we can also think about the interests of others. As a species we have become conscious of our effect on the world and decided collectively to do something about it.

    • Photo: Elliot Jokl

      Elliot Jokl answered on 23 Jun 2016:

      Thanks for the question!

      I’ve had a similar question to this one in the chats, which is how can our DNA be so similar to other primates (98-99% similar, which is very good evidence of how these primates are our cousins in evolution!) and yet we are very different.

      This is partly because very small changes in DNA can have big consequences – a single change in the billions of letters of DNA can turn a gene off or on, for example, and this is the kind of thing that happens with genetic diseases.

      But similar to Thomas, I think the important distinction is probably our intelligence – we evolved bigger brains that are capable of more complex thoughts. We are aware of our environment and how important we are to each other. Many animals have this to a lesser degree, but I think this is what has managed to give us a huge advantage and allowed us to build our civilisation.

      But this also tells us that we are closer to animals than some people might like to think, too! Maybe the distinction between us isn’t all that black and white? What do you think?

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