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Why do you distinguish between living things and nonliving things? Aren't living things made of non-living matter?
You distinguish between them because life has emerged as an emergent property from nonliving matter. In the same way humans have emerged from the Animal Kingdom. We are something entirely new
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry Diogenes
You refute yourself. Life is just a subset of chemistry, but it is still chemistry.
Just as we are a sub set of the animal kingdom.
Arguing same = different adds nothing to the conversation.
I've got to agree with granpa again.
If a bacterium lacks as sense of feeling or ability to really experience things, I'd say that in many ways it has more in common with a rock than a person, despite it and a person both being alive, in most relevant ways.
I don't see a firm distinction between life and non-life either, at least based on how we currently define life.
Maybe if they started the definition of life at "the ability to experience something's surroundings" the divide would be more clear...but then researchers would be arguing over what that means for the next thousand years and there would never be an agreed upon system to categorize life forms.
Our classification system for life has significance in ways...but in other ways it's not very useful, and everybody knows this.
That's why I'm in the same category as certain types of single-celled organisms, but other types of single-celled organisms are not in our category.
If you play devil's advocate in a discussion or debate, you express an opinion which you may not agree with but which is very different to what other people have been saying, in order to make the argument more interesting.
Even if you agree with the general idea that someone else is presenting you might play Devil's Advocate in order to point out some small flaw in their reasoning
It's now wonder people frown upon the idea that we're animals. Our language and culture is filled with instances of us frowning upon animal characteristics.
Those negatively-viewed aspects usually include our mentalities in dire situations too. In dire situations sometimes we'll act rapidly to solve a problem, but often, particularly if we're surprised, we'll get impulsive, reactionary, panicky, be led by our instincts, etc...most of which are not looked highly upon.
True, but repressing those basic "animal instincts' for a variety of reasons, does not negate the fact that they are there.
Which, to the regret of many people, leaves us, and rightfully so, being classified as animals.
Or...I can just look at the difference, rather than the similarities.
Same thing
No. You can look at the differences between a Porsche and a VW Golf, but they are still cars. Looking at the differences just means you can pretend you are special.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clintone
Except there are differences. If we're unique enough, it makes sense to place humans in some other category, at least if your goal is less related to biology and more related to behavior.
Our behavior is related to biology, and much more than you think. Your subconscious brain works much faster than your conscious brain, and much of your behavior is subconscious.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clintone
I don't see a problem with placing humans in a separate category from other organisms. Biologically, we're animals, but I think we're unusual enough we could be placed in our own category for more practical reasons.
What practical reasons? To pretend we are special?
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