What makes us human?
The question of what makes a human being a human being and not an animal has been a headache for generations of researchers and philosophers. The answer to that question also changes over time. Only recently were people from Africa not considered human. Today, some ape species are included in the group of hominids. Optimistic trend watchers see the gap between humans and animals eventually become even narrower. And that it is actually already like that, you can see in the pet shops. In the clothes department.
Once upon a time, we humans were under the impression that we were the crown of creation. Since Darwin, there is little left of that, and that made me humble. People would not be people if we did not feverishly search for another difference. The philosopher René Descartes already exclaimed three centuries ago that the difference lay in our consciousness. 'Cogito ergo sum'. I think therefore I am. Because I think, I am. Thinking therefore ensures existence. With all due respect to Descartes, it is all nonsense.
“Menno has no sense of his own body. Your nose, my nose, it's all the same to him. 'Now' and 'later' mean nothing to him. In fact, Menno lives purely by instinct.”
In order to find the answer to the question of what makes humans human, the focus was long on our social characteristics. Language, culture, advanced communication, use of tools. This answer fell by the wayside when science clearly demonstrated that other animal species also use these skills. If it suits them, all animals use a form of tool. And some ape species can learn human sign language.
Dolphins are seen as intelligent beings with human-like qualities. Playful: ape species that appear to have human-like abilities are cheerfully called 'great apes'. Man as the measure of all things. We completely ignore our own animal qualities. While Homo sapiens is at most more advanced in execution. Is that what makes us human?
The historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto – you can forget his name right away – gives in the book So you think you're human?' a nice look at the history of being human. According to the author, we belong to the category 'human' because we draw the boundaries ourselves. If there is one truly distinguishing characteristic, Fernandez-Armesto sneers, it is that man sees himself as a better being.
We take man as a measure, and that is only human. In other words: the search for proof that we are better beings makes us human. And at the same time is doomed to fail. The concept of 'human' changes with time and is also not scientifically pinned down. Apart from the question that intrigues most: are we really better beings?
And yet we continue to search, now with the focus on our gene pool. Not so long ago, researchers thought that a human being had to have at least 100,000 genes. After all, a mouse needs 25,000 genes to be just a mouse. We humans, the better beings, would certainly have many more. When the human gene map was ready, the counter also stopped at around 25,000 and humanity was once again one illusion poorer. What makes us unique is also not in a number.