Crazy Picture (And Some Other Stuff, Too)

[Sanzoskitsune]

I think we tread a very thin line between us and animals. We can be like animals because... well we are but every now and then we can rise above that and act despite what our nature dictates.

I... get bruises all the time randomly. Apparently I bruise from sleeping in odd positions.  

[The Dinosaur Next Door]

I have to think...
I believe in evolution. I believe that humans developed from apes (NOT monkeys damn it!), and I also believe that based on that, humans are technically animals. We have the same major organs as other mammals, we can be classified the same way, and we are also identifiably not vegetables nor minerals.

I also consider humans to be different from, but not better than, other animals. We are on different planes. Apples and oranges, I guess you could say.

I totally adore Band-Aids. I use them all the time to prevent infection. Where I live, it's so easy to get one.  

[Sanzoskitsune]

I believe in evolution too, but like you said we are different from all other animals. I think we are an enigma among the animal kingdom.

I... pick at scabs. Really I am the total opposite of you in that xd  

[The Dinosaur Next Door]

I think we like to think we're special. I think we've developed an ego because we're the only animals with our abilities (which is mostly really equipment and expertise.) But I don't think we're unique among the animal world; if anything, our science is all that's keeping us alive, and that can't last much longer. We have no natural physical weapons - our claws are weak and break, our teeth are short and relatively blunt, our fur can't keep us warm, and we're not especially fast, strong, or capable of inhabiting difficult-to-reach areas.

You totally creeped me out with that. I pretend I don't have scabs; I just keep them clean and covered until they go away.  

[Sanzoskitsune]

I think our ego gets in the way sometimes... I mean I do think we have something that other animals don't, that's the one thing I disagree with you on BUT I don't think that gives us the right to do whatever we want. We used to respect nature and now we don't. I think we've forgotten that we need nature to survive. We can't control all that is around us no matter how hard we try and its something most have forgotten

sweatdrop and sorry for creeping you out. I've never made a big deal about bacteria and stuff. It helps that I hardly ever get sick.  

[The Dinosaur Next Door]

I don't understand; can you explain what we have that other animals don't?

Well, I'm not saying that we don't have skills that help us stay in our current position (as the "dominant" species,) but I do not believe for a second that humans are better than other animals. I have cats, and I relate to them without using any of the skills that could be called equipment or expertise, but we can deal with each other without problems and can coexist happily. That has a lot to do with why I think people have separated themselves from the animals we really are.

And I agree, we do NOT respect the planet or its inhabitants. s**t, we don't even respect other humans, and we'd deserve it completely if it blew up in our fat stupid faces.

I never used to get sick, but then I got a job. Then I started getting colds, the flu, infections... And worse, I don't have an awesome immune system. I never used to be ill because I was so sheltered, but being exposed to other people makes me a diseased little person. And I never worried either, 'til it started costing me pharmaceutical money. stare Damn it.  

[Sanzoskitsune]

Oh no I don't think we're BETTER. I just think we have higher reasoning skills. Its the reason some of us can choose to be vegetarians and such and have the ability to discuss morals and ethics and things of the sort. Because we have higher reasoning skills we have the ability to have conversations that other animals would not be able to have. Really, that's the only thing that I think separates us from other animals. I could be wrong though, and the day I am shown I'm wrong I'll swallow my pride and admit that we are exactly like all other animals.

As for the not respecting thing... yeah its gonna blow up in our faces and its gonna be big when it does. Its probably already starting to happen

I have a really good immune system. I think it probably has to do a lot with me getting sick when I was younger and also from not being in completely sanitized areas like kids do today. I just get sick every now and then.  

[The Dinosaur Next Door]

My cat just tried to jump onto my bed and slipped off the foot board. 4laugh

Um, I don't know that I'd say we have higher reasoning skills. If I punch a dog in the face, it knows that it doesn't like that and doesn't repeat the behavior that precipitated the punch.

Other animals communicate often, and seemingly in depth. Dolphins, whales, different wild dogs and great cats. Birds, reptiles, and some bugs even make sounds that are associated with different meanings. I don't know that their conversations go into as much depth as ours, so I can see what you mean in terms of stimulating conversation being a discrepancy between humans and other animals. But the ability to communicates is by no means unique to us. My cats are sisters, and they kiss and fight and talk all the time.

I think the current climate crisis, the polar ice caps, the ozone problems, deforestation and overpopulation are all direct results of the explosion of technology and lack of concern for the consequences of our behaviors. And we ******** deserve to drown, choke, overheat, burn, and breed out for it. I'm almost disgusted sometimes to share the same species as some of the inconsiderate ******** I go to school with.

I was never very sanitation-wary as a kid, and neither were my parents. I just wasn't as social as other kids. (My ma and I were just talking about how I've always been different because I don't mind being alone for extended periods of time, so this is kind of valid...) I also wasn't one to go out and see new places as a child. I was shy to the extreme; almost afraid of strangers, and I was exhausted by other kids.  

[Sanzoskitsune]

I think its more the stimulating conversations that has me convinced that we have higher reasoning skills. I mean avoiding something because it causes you pain is part of learning but it isn't a form of higher reasoning. Higher reasoning is about making decisions about your actions based on things like morals and ethics, even if doing those actions doesn't necessarily cause you any suffering. I think all animals communicate, just not in the same way.

And people are frustrating as hell. I'm convinced that as a whole, the human race is full of morons and idiots. There are only a small percentage of people who are worth the actual time and energy put into them.

Hmm then that might be the difference, I was taken everywhere when I was a kid. I didn't just stay by myself, I had people all around me taking me everywhere and exposing me to other people and the outside constantly.  

[Jafthasleftthebuilding]

Alarias

The conversation evolved Jaft.

I'm pointing out this joke right now.  

[The Dinosaur Next Door]

Awesome. xd

EDIT:

Missed your post before, Sanzo.

I used punching a dog as an example, but I really think that this could apply to any animal and any action with an undesirable result. That said, I neither punch dogs nor put animals in unhappy situations with the intent of monitoring their behaviors.

I am so ashamed to be a person sometimes. I used to try to boycott humanity. But then my ma made me shower and shave and start making changes to myself first.

Your lack of a plastic bubble is both intriguing and an entirely plausible reason for our different systems responses.  

[Sanzoskitsune]

Yeah ethics would be what stops you from punching animals. Its the reason animal testing is so hard to do, there's a huge controversy over whether its ethical or not.

I laughed at that last statement, the imagery was just too funny.  

[The Dinosaur Next Door]

Animal cruelty is a HUGE issue of mine, so I'm not going to go into that. Suffice to say that if you wouldn't subject a human to it, you shouldn't subject anything else to it.

Here's a different example that may be better: I go to work, usually for 5+ hours at a time. My cats misses me when I'm gone and climbs on my and cries for my attention when I get home. Without fail, she's in my lap the second I sit down. One, if not both of my cats sleep with me in my bed at night. That's how I make up to them for the time I was gone, because I know by their reactions that they missed me.

Glad to have made you laugh.  

[Sanzoskitsune]

I don't think animal testing is animal cruelty but... probably best not to get into that subject here.

I don't think other animals are stupid in the least, I think they're smarter than we give them credit. I just think they can't reason quite as well as us. I dunno I think its hard to explain how I see it.

yay for laughs xd  

[The Dinosaur Next Door]

I'm having trouble explaining, too; I feel like I'm saying the same stuff again and again, which can't be helpful to you.

I think that they don't reason/question as deeply as we do, but I don't doubt their capacity for it. They don't have the luxuries we do, which afford us the time/energy/interest in expanding ourselves. Humans revert to primal selves when deprived of technology; it's entirely possible (or at least, it seems that way to me,) that animals could recreate our behaviors in terms of social conduct, et cetera, if they were allowed the same opportunities.

And you're right; I have little tolerance on vivisection/testing/cruelty because it's so near and dear to me. We probably shouldn't get into it.