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To Plato it meant being a featherless biped.
To which Diogenes responded by bringing him a plucked chicken and exclaiming: "Behold, a man!"
I suggest reading ancient Greeks about that. And of course philosophy of ethics and what it means to be a person. What makes personhood, etc.
Plenty of really good lit on that subject.
Haha, I did have someone quote this xD It's amazing. But I'm actually asking for normal, everyday people's personal thoughts and opinions on the topic. :)
To be capable of suffering, though one could argue fundamental compositions of objects undergo suffering to induce change, beyond humane emergence. Haven't figure that out yet, though I'm writing about it.
But the capacity itself in humans seems to imply the need for a closed-enough consciousness loop.
Yeah so I'm writing a 6-title saga to essentially explain what I mean because it's based on some pretty complex physics and neurological principles I had been studying n. Understanding how to sort of gauge information at rock bottom with no rulers, or how to reflect on some multivariate model with poorly understood initial or transitional conditions (like the climate catastrophe problem.)
So I'm going to fail trying to explain it here in reddit (again, hence the long ass series hah).
In some ways, cosmos is much, much simpler than we would feel comfortable with. Yes, there is emergent behaviour, but generally, most things you do are of a small group of processes put together in different ways. So love is the same doing the dishes, which is the same as doing art, which is the same as driving, which is the same as killing someone, which is the same as coding a superintellgient AI.
These processes are all doing actually the same thing as inanimate objects. They come from the same root: change. You can't have objects without change, and you can't have people without change. They are different manifestations of the same thing.
But how is change induced? Is it a step-wise function, log, or some other non-linear process. Non-linear processes are particularly nasty to consider, because though we like to keep them isolated, what we actually have are 10,000 different non-linear processes acting in the same frame of impact (might be more or less but too many means impact is too marginal).
But in fact (massive caveats, huge requirement of study) , the most significant changes take the form of prolonged damage of some sort. It seems to me that the prolonged injection of trying to break something down is actually the most effective way to induce change. And in reality, this started "with/at" (I know I know) cosmological inflation or at t~0 itself.
In order to create protons, actually you must induce a kind of suffering to make the change stable, the suffering being more akin to recalcintricity than being hurt in itself. And this principle is super effective. It can Ge erate stable/excitable polymers, compounds, and now life. But we aresztill kind of doing the same thing as proton babies. Suffering.
Suffering, however, in living beings has also taken additional/emergent dimensions. Ogi Ogas, in his Journey of the Mind, describes a potential pathways for generating more complex minds (in what I would add is the development of suffering dimensions). We can suffer now, as in being in prolonged distress without apparent cause or necessity in the moment, in ways protons and now wolves cannot. But we are also seeing that this may actually be creating higher levels of minds (though Ogas' claims in some areas require much verification).
Consciousness is basically a massive organized machine that better manipulates suffering in the world, which is why consciousness seems to be a "universe creating machine" to us if we don't study the mind. I find that studying the brain thoroughly enough usually rids people of the mystique of the brain. It is not a simple machine, but it is one with a (relatively) complete technical definition with no woowoo needed. :)
I think you can take love out of people. And joy. But suffering is much deeper. I would go further and suggest actually most of what happens to you and me is suffer. And actually, suffering is mostly why you're here. That is the point. That's why anything exists, even with regards to guage fields, particles or partowaves or whatever, if this questions has an answer at all. (as a side note, I used this to tweak the standard model for my book, creating an Expanded Standard Model with a new section of "high-recalcitrant particles".
Okay, this may be a personal problem. I have prolonged pain/bone condition that honestly never goes away and I would suggest it has made me consider life is mostly about suffering. Even now, in bed can't sleep, in pain, on nerve meds. Suffering. So it's been a strange exploration to go from this, to try to understand my body then the world, and (very critically) how to understand science research without significant internal bias. I am not the only one who considers this point therefore. (though, you know, doctors/surgeons/researchers or professors I've spoken to have this idea, and it either just makes them perpetually depressed or they don't like to think about it.)
This is very interesting and reflects many of my own thoughts and experiences as well. I wish you all the luck and if you ever wanna chat further or send me your writings I'd be happy to look it over or just read it further!
to be human is to err.
to be human is to have conscience.
to be human is to have a strong sense of self and identity.
(im writing on a similar topic, and watching this anime called dororo really brought out the concept of humanity very well)
19, female, india
exactly. i love topics with depth in them. raising philosophical questions like this makes me wonder if it is a primitive essence of life.
a lot of media lack it these days, and it's disappointing
I have a trilogy of science fiction books that addresses this issue. I'm not sure what the answer is, to be honest.
I started wrestling with this issue a few years ago. Defining humanity seemed to boil down to physical ancestry as well as an ability to interact with the known world in specific ways. On top of that was the concept of self awareness.
All three of these things are present in other living things on the planet. Many animals and fish have passed the MSR test for self awareness. However, they lack the DNA present in homo sapiens. Some primates share DNA with homo sapiens, have self awareness, and interact with the known world in similar ways. Does this make them human? Somehow, no.
Which led me to thinking that perhaps being human is involved with our ability to create lasting cultures. Elephants can do that. Perhaps it's our ability to pass on knowledge to our children. Crows do that.
Is it our ability to create and keep our stories? Is that what makes us human? I can read writings now from authors thousands of years old. Is that it? Is the written word, are the stories told through generations, the key to our humanity? I know of other living things communicating, like fungus and huge tree root networks. I don't know if they have written language per se. I don't know if their communication is current information or stories.
I sometimes think that what makes us human is our ability to imagine, document, and communicate ideas through completely made up stories. But I don't know for sure. I do know that the ability to write fiction. to create worlds from just our mind, seems like an astounding skill.
**TLDR: I don't know for sure.**
60, female, United States.
We have a lot in common. I also write science fiction that sometimes touches on the issues of identity and personhood.
I don't see that the DNA (being human) is important for personhood. Instead it has to do with agency and the ability to enter into social contracts. Thus, synthetic entity and alien being can be persons. Non-human animals may also qualify, but this gets us into legal issues, as well as into what sort of social contracts we have with both domestic and wild animals.
It seems to me that my cat and I have entered into a social contract. I have an obligation to fulfill my side of it. I am upset when people don't honor their contracts with animals. So is a house cat a person or not. How does my obligation to my cat weigh against obligations to other animals and to human persons? I doubt we can come to an agreement on this.
When I nab the cat to get her teeth cleaned by the vet, am I honoring that contract or violating it?
It means us. What we understand the world to be. It means to be created by a creator to be rulers of the earth. Scientifically, it means to have certain chromosomes and DNA.
Terry Pratchett said it best: "To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape."
I am a ~400 million year old asexual creature from the Middle Devonian, currently incarnated as funny looking monkey boy.
To be human is to be selfish and demand independence in your youth. To be human is to realize, hopefully early on, that would be a terribly lonely existence. And for those who do look beyond themselves, being human is about being part of a whole. Yes, other animals can do that, obviously. But to be human, you get the opportunity to step back and question why. Why should we all come together under love and art and adventure and hardship?
Being human is being able to ask the hard questions, and use the collective feedback of your entire species for answers to live with purpose, stepping out of survival mode.
It means being so utterly dumb, selfish, greedy and short-termist as individuals and collectively that you ruin life on your own home planet.
I’d rather be anonymous.
And yet to be so compassionate that we care about the well-being of humans on the other side of the world and even completely different species, brilliant, creative, hopeful and determined.
Humans are all the things and we get to choose which ones to focus on.
Human means of the genus Homo. Currently there is only one species of humans( homo sapiens) Extinct species include Homo neanderthalensis, Homo floresiensis, and others.
But I think you may be asking what it means to be a human person. For that I would give a very different answer.
This distinction is of crucial importance.
I am from the US, female, and nearly sixty.
Luckily, there is no wrong answer :) I'm asking vaguely to see the initial reactions of people. To see if they go the personal belief route, the philosophical route, the religious route, the psychological route, or the scientific route. No wrong answers, it's just brilliant to see how people think when approached with the question. You did wonderfully :)
Being human involves having humanity. While cultures differ they all prize honor, compassion, empathy and kindness as traits to strive for.
As for me, Midwestern USA, adult millennial.
Teenage guy from the US.
\-------------------------------
Humanity is a scale, honestly. For example, although C3PO is probably more human than R2D2, he still definitely isn't human in the same way you and I are. I'm going to be largely ignoring the obvious ends of the spectrum (the boulder from Indiana Jones is obviously not human, whereas Indy himself obviously is), and focusing on the examples that are less clear cut. Particularly in robots, because I think that'll make my examples the most clear.
How is the scale defined? How much personality they have plays a big role for me. For example, I'd say the Arnold Terminator in T1 is much less human than the one in T2, even though they're practically identical on the outside. How much they look like a human also plays a role, as shown the C3PO and R2D2 example from earlier. Similarly, something like the Hal 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey or Towers from Interstellar would definitely not be, while the Machines like B1-66ER in The AniMatrix are much more human.
Cyborgs also get a boost in humanness. The simulants in The Creator I consider to be human in almost everything but name. Same with the DC superhero Cyborg, except he leans even more towards the human side since he originally was human.
So what makes someone human? Vibes, honestly. Do they seem human? If so, then yea they count.
In my own experience, being human has meant inheriting a knot of contradictions that one spends a lifetime teasing out — to have it bundle up over and over. Funny to think of it that way, because that is what happens during meiosis. Our DNA ravels and unravels in a constant flux, not only to make our bodies but to maintain them, and I’ve discovered that everything we do is an image of what we are, of “matter” that surrounds us and is a part of us, and to be human is to be drawn to symbolic rites to know ourselves beyond our senses, despite being bound by them.
37, female, USA
What does it mean to be inhuman? How do you quantify a Species as numerous as Humans? There are 7, nearly 8, Billions of us on this planet and we're all Human. I am a Human unlike you, and in turn you are a Human unlike me.
Humans have sought meaning for themselves and their lives, and many are still searching.
If there is one thing Humans can do it's find fulfillment in their lives. Animals don't have that luxury, and they go through their lives just surviving. You won't find another creature on this rock that will train for years just to run for hours for enjoyment.
Humans find meaning in the fulfillment they choose.
Anonymous.
It kinda depends on if you mean "what does it mean to be a person?" with that question? Which I would assume it is. The other interpretation is more easily answered but more boring as it would be too be a person born into the human race. Which I guess is a tautological statement now that I think on it.
Personhood is a harder nut to crack. Either you make a definition to wide and invite any barrel-living philosopher with a plucked chicken to shoot you down or to narrow in which you exclude people at best or commit atrocities at worst.
I think the experience of being a person is unique for everyone while very similar in the broad strokes.
To me, sentience. And what does sentience mean? Well, to me, everything that makes you human.
To elaborate on that I see it as a combination of intelligence, emotion, and importantly but often overlooked, language.
20, M, Nova Scotia CA
The capacity for love and compassion. The ability to strive for survival despite the odds being against it. The potential for evil, yet the ability to suppress those desires. The ability to learn from mistakes and grow as a result of them.
35, Male, USA
I don’t think there is a straight answer. Maybe cognitive sentience. Maybe the ability to ask this question. To tell stories. To think analytically. To love. To sacrifice for others out of love and not instinct. To be a member of our species. To be capable of all this at once. When we say “human” or “humanity” I feel like we’re asking something more—what’s it like to have a soul, to be sentient, conscious? Distinctive in a way hard to point down?
I’m mainly thinking about aliens tbh. If a species arrived as intelligent and emotional and biological as us, it doesn’t make them part of Humanity to me, but it makes them of equal value and of equal difficulty to answer what makes THEM them.
18. AFAB. USA.
TLDR (lol): Humans are creatures of misunderstanding. The fundamental desire is to understand, but they exist in what can never be understood. They themselves are incapable of understanding their own make up. Therefore, the function of the human is not actually to understand, or fight, or reconcile but simply tolerate the entropy therein. And hopefully one day attain that which is a hold through in every belief system in history, in my background, it’s called serenity, but it could be simply summarized as doing exactly the opposite of what every fiber of your being is saying to do, stop fighting the rapids, let go, ride the current and have faith that it will land you on a sunny beach. And what it means to be human is found in the journey one takes to get there. (M, 22, USA)
I don’t really know where to begin so I guess I want to start rambling until I get to something approximating a conclusion to be human is to be the personification of contradiction, to always fall just short of satisfaction, on a fractal like scale. There is a Duality to being human. We all know this, but there’s a Duality to Duality as well. A human is an amalgamation of competing desires, needs beliefs, etc. all bound together by a cognitive dissonance. It’s really hard for me to put what I’m trying to explain into words, but the thing that made me feel like I really understood the place of humans in the universe was through the following mental journey if you will, reminding that I can only speak from my own experience and assume it is more or less, that of others. In my estimation Humans believe they exist to understand when they really exist to learn how to tolerate a universe that supersedes understanding. It’s almost too perfect how perfectly out of place humans are in their environment, With our own brains, there is more complexity than in the entire external universe at least that we will ever be aware of. That complexity can’t even understand more than one or two facets of its own function if that can even be said, and that takes its entire lifetime. It’s just perfectly imperfect. The sheer concept of theoretical science, exists simply to satisfy and human desired understand, but is incapable of actually understanding anything. Fuck I don’t even understand how to explain not understanding. This is where I’m assuming. We like one person who tolerated my rambling long enough to get this far is going to stop reading, but this is where at least in my mind is a function of religion exists. Humans are perfectly imperfect creatures in a perfectly imperfect world. You can make your own conclusion about what that says about creators and what not. But I would surely like to discuss with anybody who disagrees with the following premises, which will also be the tldr. Humans are creatures of misunderstanding. The fundamental desire is to understand, but they exist in what can never be understood. They themselves are incapable of understanding their own make up. Therefore, the function of the humans existence is not actually to understand but tolerate the entropy therein. And hopefully one day attain that which is a hold through in every belief system ever to grace history, in my background, it’s called serenity, some might call it nirvana or any number of other names, but it could be simply summarized as doing exactly the opposite of what every fiber of your being is saying to do, stop fighting the rapids, let go, ride the current and have faith that it will land you on a sunny beach. And what it means to be human is found in the journey one takes to get there. (M, 22, USA)
To be human is to be a species that has evolved more intelligence than it knows what to do with and is struggling with knowing what to want in a purposeless universe where it can choose any purpose it wants. Oh, and is still entirely an animal.
- Anonymous (Australia)
In my opinion, to be human is to have compassion, emotion, sympathy, and empathy. To be human is to have a kind heart. Those who are unkind in life and lack the pillars are just simply... NPC's.
What it means to be a human... It means being able to experience struggle, happiness, pain, suffering, anguish, love, hate, pleasure, confidence, doubt, fear, confusion, bravery, cowardice. I guess what I'm saying is being human to me is being able to simultaneously feel and experience different and sometimes opposite emotions while worrying about the emotions of the people we have certain emotions for. It's unique as far as we know, except for some animal species. But even the proven depth of emotion isn't comparable to that of the human. Emotions drive us to and from experiences and relationships. They are a defining factor in determining who we identify as people. Emotions lead to individuality and conformity. Humans love and kill other humans based off emotional responses. In my rather humble opinion, being human means experiencing the full spectrum of emotions on an almost daily basis and navigating life based on those experiences. I have lived in the United States for 33 years. I have had more jobs than years I have been alive. I have traveled to different countries, I have saved lives, delivered babies, and watched the people I love die. I have been married and divorced. I'm a father myself and a son to an alcoholic father. I have battled substance abuse and was homeless for a year living out of a broken down SUV in the woods. I have used and been used. Taken advantage of and manipulated things for my benefit. I have been a good man and a bad man within the same decade. I have contemplated suicide and enjoyed life on the same day. I have been in love and been loved. I have felt heartbreak and failure. I have no idea why humans have been given the gift of life only to struggle to make sense of it. But I do believe it's our emotional depth that makes us human.... Sorry this was so long.
I feel like the main idea behind being human is in the concept of value or purpose. Like all other living things, we are brought into this reality out of nowhere and have this tendency, or really this need, to find a purpose for having been brought here. I feel like at tue center of all our choices, there are underlying core purposes that we either consciously or subconsciously strive to prove. Acknowledging these purposes gives you a better understanding of who “you” are, in my view. Wonder if anybody had a similar response.
To think inward and outward to such great lengths we become terrified to know the answer.
To be cursed with a consciousness that dares to think how and why we exist instead of mearly existing.
When you break it down we’re all just brains encased in random meat suits, and to think differently of others is part of our human condition which many don’t like to accept, and think they are above.
I feel like, at least from my own perspective, the thing that make us human is our free will. Unlike all other species in the animal kingdom, we as humans have an individual knowledge of what is considered good and what is considered evil, and it is our free will that gives us the ability to choose between the two. Not to mention that we also have the intelligence to reflect on said choices and have the free will to once again choose whether or not to stay on the path we are on or change our behavior for better or worse.
26, Male, USA
I think the concept of what it means to be human is very general. It is difficult to capture its essence in a response when it’s so violently subjective. But in attempt I think it means being blessed with the gift of self, of knowledge and of experience. To be human is to be loved and to be known. Because I am a human, I can indulge in the gift of creation and self expression. Because I am a homo sapiens, I can ponder such an intricate question with others of my kind. :)
19, United States
To suffer the sorrows of the world, but to also revel in its joys. We are to witness the world in all its facets, no matter good or bad. To realize its gifts and cruelties.
No matter how harsh our lives treat us, we are to live, live and live, so that our stories will be engaved upon the earth, forever leaving an impact. No matter how minuscule, humans will forever desire to leave a mark, a piece of proof that each one of them had once existed in this mortal plane.
--
Midterms must be getting to me hehe
19, female, Hong Kong
To be human is to make choices and mistakes.
No other creature can choose to go against their instinct and thus they can't make mistakes.
Mistakes define us both in the eyes of our society and as people, thanks to the consequences we suffer
>What does it mean to be human?
From a biological point of view, that simply means possessing a DNA associated with homo sapiens sapiens, a mammal, a primate.
From a societal perspective, I'd like it to define for myself fuctionalistically - a human is a member of certain group with corresponding rights and obligations coming from their function within the group, however, that's for me is more of a definition of a human being.
And a mixed point of view:
A human is a self conscious living being. Something that is able to construct massive abstract concepts without the need to visualize it in order to comprehend it. Something that is able to complicated communication and forming relationships with other beings, not nesseserily living or human, by attributing to it their own perspective, or projecting on it their thoughts about the being and its supposed function and behavior. Something that is able to construct a self soothing imaginary conversations with itself in order to solve a problem of existential anxiety that never existed until a human invented it and every human continues to reinvent it for itself.
Greeting from a 18 years old man from Russia
being human means directing ourselves with our own conscious thoughts and rationale, understanding ourselves and the world we live in, and living among one another.
25, male, united states
In this world, being human is a matter of having a soul and being a beloved child of a God. These are the core elements of our nature, and from them stem other elements of humanity, such as free will and temptation.
In the world of my fantasy novel, as this is r/writers, it means something entirely different.
16m, USA, adopted these viewpoints to fight a critical existential crisis.
This is a central theme in my book too.
To Livia, a young woman who longs more than anything to be ‘human’ after spending her life as a weapon and then having her memories removed from her by a goddess - to be human is to belong. To have memories to share with other people as proof of your existence. A past. And a future. If no one knows who you are, only what use you can provide for them, you are not human. You are a tool. something easily discarded.
To Ozzy, a man who has watched his wife die, his children be stollen away, and monsters devour anything he’s ever loved. to be human, to him, is to have a strength of will that can rival the gods. Ozzy genuinely believes the human spirit is the most powerful catalyst for change. He derived purpose from purging evil monsters from the world to preserve the innocence of civilians who he wants to shelter from the destruction of monsters like demons. Ozzy is a father at heart, who lost his children young, he wants to better the future, and he’d train an army of monster slayers to do it. its the world his wife wanted.
To arlo, who is a child of the el Salvadoran civil war (book is in 1988), who has seen humans do so much damage to one another other that the scent of blood attracted monsters to the frenzy. He’s lost his sister, not to demons like most of the cast, but to the violence in the war. So, to be human is to be capable of great evil. Humans are flawed machines, and in that sense, what point is there in resisting carnal desires? Make love today, something might kill you tomorrow. Don’t get attached. People are not their past or their future. They are only right now. There is no point in waiting for the right woman. Or in settling down, not when some monster can come from the dark and take it away.
the common thread: it’s to loose something intangible and d long for it back. That is what makes us human. To spend our lives scrambling for shards of our selves, to take bits and pieces of mosaic from others and add it to our menagerie. we end this path broken, twisted, sure. But in the right light, we cast a wonderful shadow, of many colors and shapes. with out that humanity, we are just plain windows through which to see a colorless world.
To live like every other animal. Differences in our genetics and experiences shape the world around us, as much as we are shaped by it.
Woman 33, Italy
If we read Genesis as a metaphor for evolution, then self-awareness and the ability to consume and hold knowledge is the final step that sets us apart from the jungle/garden.
To be a literal child of God with infinite worth and divine potential. To have the opportunity to become like Him and inherit all that He has. To have the gift of agency and to be able to choose freely for ourselves. To be a part of an eternal family.
27 f, US
Humans are a species of great ape. Homo sapien, considered by themselves to be the dominant species on planet Earth, the humans are neither the most populous nor the most widespread. As the last surviving member of the genus Homo, humans can be considered evolutionary outliers. However, it is highly likely that the success of this species is largely responsible for the extinction of its close relatives and as such it is not considered at risk of extinction by competition. This species is highly sociable, and yet, contradictorily, extremely violent. Due to its superstitious nature, the average human is easily led towards self harm by religious fervour and in spite of significant technological advancement, the species has proven itself unwilling to attempt a cooperative effort at reducing the ongoing climate crisis that will most likely be the ultimate extinction event of its near future.
I completely understand if you do not agree with my response though I will say my answer has to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Genisis it says we, female and male were created in the image of God, so simply put we are different than animals because unlike the many creatures of the Earth, we were as the scripture says created in God's image. We look like God and also have great potential to become like that. To be human means we are God's children. And I know this to the true.
To be human is to feel.
With all the complexities and multifaceted aspects of being human, feeling is the common thread that runs through it all. Emotions and feelings are the foundation of our human experience, and they play a crucial role in shaping our thoughts, behaviors, and relationships.
Feeling is the essence of being human, and it's what makes our experiences, relationships, and accomplishments truly meaningful. Whether it's joy, love, sorrow, or wonder, emotions are the threads that weave our lives together and give us a sense of purpose and belonging.
In a sense, feeling is the glue that holds our humanity together, and it's what makes us uniquely human. So, yes, with all the options and complexities of being human, feeling is indeed the only way for it to be.
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To ask questions that cannot be answered by asking.
Or perhaps to answer questions that cannot answered by asking.
To belong to the species homo sapiens
To eat cheese at midnight.
To Plato it meant being a featherless biped. To which Diogenes responded by bringing him a plucked chicken and exclaiming: "Behold, a man!" I suggest reading ancient Greeks about that. And of course philosophy of ethics and what it means to be a person. What makes personhood, etc. Plenty of really good lit on that subject.
Diogenes is fantastic. "The only place to spit in a rich man's home is his face."
Diogenes is truly the based public masturbator of all time.
Haha, I did have someone quote this xD It's amazing. But I'm actually asking for normal, everyday people's personal thoughts and opinions on the topic. :)
>What does it mean to be human? Something different to every human. 47, female, Canada
I love your answer :) Thank you <3
To be capable of suffering, though one could argue fundamental compositions of objects undergo suffering to induce change, beyond humane emergence. Haven't figure that out yet, though I'm writing about it. But the capacity itself in humans seems to imply the need for a closed-enough consciousness loop.
I am very curious if you're willing to go deeper on this, for I am also an explorer of consciousness, and I am interested in what,you have to say
Yeah so I'm writing a 6-title saga to essentially explain what I mean because it's based on some pretty complex physics and neurological principles I had been studying n. Understanding how to sort of gauge information at rock bottom with no rulers, or how to reflect on some multivariate model with poorly understood initial or transitional conditions (like the climate catastrophe problem.) So I'm going to fail trying to explain it here in reddit (again, hence the long ass series hah). In some ways, cosmos is much, much simpler than we would feel comfortable with. Yes, there is emergent behaviour, but generally, most things you do are of a small group of processes put together in different ways. So love is the same doing the dishes, which is the same as doing art, which is the same as driving, which is the same as killing someone, which is the same as coding a superintellgient AI. These processes are all doing actually the same thing as inanimate objects. They come from the same root: change. You can't have objects without change, and you can't have people without change. They are different manifestations of the same thing. But how is change induced? Is it a step-wise function, log, or some other non-linear process. Non-linear processes are particularly nasty to consider, because though we like to keep them isolated, what we actually have are 10,000 different non-linear processes acting in the same frame of impact (might be more or less but too many means impact is too marginal). But in fact (massive caveats, huge requirement of study) , the most significant changes take the form of prolonged damage of some sort. It seems to me that the prolonged injection of trying to break something down is actually the most effective way to induce change. And in reality, this started "with/at" (I know I know) cosmological inflation or at t~0 itself. In order to create protons, actually you must induce a kind of suffering to make the change stable, the suffering being more akin to recalcintricity than being hurt in itself. And this principle is super effective. It can Ge erate stable/excitable polymers, compounds, and now life. But we aresztill kind of doing the same thing as proton babies. Suffering. Suffering, however, in living beings has also taken additional/emergent dimensions. Ogi Ogas, in his Journey of the Mind, describes a potential pathways for generating more complex minds (in what I would add is the development of suffering dimensions). We can suffer now, as in being in prolonged distress without apparent cause or necessity in the moment, in ways protons and now wolves cannot. But we are also seeing that this may actually be creating higher levels of minds (though Ogas' claims in some areas require much verification). Consciousness is basically a massive organized machine that better manipulates suffering in the world, which is why consciousness seems to be a "universe creating machine" to us if we don't study the mind. I find that studying the brain thoroughly enough usually rids people of the mystique of the brain. It is not a simple machine, but it is one with a (relatively) complete technical definition with no woowoo needed. :) I think you can take love out of people. And joy. But suffering is much deeper. I would go further and suggest actually most of what happens to you and me is suffer. And actually, suffering is mostly why you're here. That is the point. That's why anything exists, even with regards to guage fields, particles or partowaves or whatever, if this questions has an answer at all. (as a side note, I used this to tweak the standard model for my book, creating an Expanded Standard Model with a new section of "high-recalcitrant particles". Okay, this may be a personal problem. I have prolonged pain/bone condition that honestly never goes away and I would suggest it has made me consider life is mostly about suffering. Even now, in bed can't sleep, in pain, on nerve meds. Suffering. So it's been a strange exploration to go from this, to try to understand my body then the world, and (very critically) how to understand science research without significant internal bias. I am not the only one who considers this point therefore. (though, you know, doctors/surgeons/researchers or professors I've spoken to have this idea, and it either just makes them perpetually depressed or they don't like to think about it.)
This is very interesting and reflects many of my own thoughts and experiences as well. I wish you all the luck and if you ever wanna chat further or send me your writings I'd be happy to look it over or just read it further!
to be human is to err. to be human is to have conscience. to be human is to have a strong sense of self and identity. (im writing on a similar topic, and watching this anime called dororo really brought out the concept of humanity very well) 19, female, india
It's so fun to think about right!? I love it so much. It's such a great question, and it's fun.
exactly. i love topics with depth in them. raising philosophical questions like this makes me wonder if it is a primitive essence of life. a lot of media lack it these days, and it's disappointing
*"What does it mean to be human?"* Did A.I. ask this?
I had the same thought when reading this question. That, or he’s an alien gathering intel on whether or not it’s ethically sound to invade Earth.
I have a trilogy of science fiction books that addresses this issue. I'm not sure what the answer is, to be honest. I started wrestling with this issue a few years ago. Defining humanity seemed to boil down to physical ancestry as well as an ability to interact with the known world in specific ways. On top of that was the concept of self awareness. All three of these things are present in other living things on the planet. Many animals and fish have passed the MSR test for self awareness. However, they lack the DNA present in homo sapiens. Some primates share DNA with homo sapiens, have self awareness, and interact with the known world in similar ways. Does this make them human? Somehow, no. Which led me to thinking that perhaps being human is involved with our ability to create lasting cultures. Elephants can do that. Perhaps it's our ability to pass on knowledge to our children. Crows do that. Is it our ability to create and keep our stories? Is that what makes us human? I can read writings now from authors thousands of years old. Is that it? Is the written word, are the stories told through generations, the key to our humanity? I know of other living things communicating, like fungus and huge tree root networks. I don't know if they have written language per se. I don't know if their communication is current information or stories. I sometimes think that what makes us human is our ability to imagine, document, and communicate ideas through completely made up stories. But I don't know for sure. I do know that the ability to write fiction. to create worlds from just our mind, seems like an astounding skill. **TLDR: I don't know for sure.** 60, female, United States.
We have a lot in common. I also write science fiction that sometimes touches on the issues of identity and personhood. I don't see that the DNA (being human) is important for personhood. Instead it has to do with agency and the ability to enter into social contracts. Thus, synthetic entity and alien being can be persons. Non-human animals may also qualify, but this gets us into legal issues, as well as into what sort of social contracts we have with both domestic and wild animals. It seems to me that my cat and I have entered into a social contract. I have an obligation to fulfill my side of it. I am upset when people don't honor their contracts with animals. So is a house cat a person or not. How does my obligation to my cat weigh against obligations to other animals and to human persons? I doubt we can come to an agreement on this. When I nab the cat to get her teeth cleaned by the vet, am I honoring that contract or violating it?
It means us. What we understand the world to be. It means to be created by a creator to be rulers of the earth. Scientifically, it means to have certain chromosomes and DNA.
Love this take on it. Would you be willing to say your age, sex, and country of origin? Or to remain anonymous?
I choose to be Anonymous.
A subjective experience. everybody has a different viewpoint of everything
Amazing answer :) Do you wish to remain anonymous? Or are you ok giving your age, sex, and country of origin?
Anonomyous, I always do
Terry Pratchett said it best: "To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape." I am a ~400 million year old asexual creature from the Middle Devonian, currently incarnated as funny looking monkey boy.
Read “The Humans” by Matt Haig if you haven’t yet. It’s a lovely read and shows how someone comes to learn who humans really are.
To be human is to be selfish and demand independence in your youth. To be human is to realize, hopefully early on, that would be a terribly lonely existence. And for those who do look beyond themselves, being human is about being part of a whole. Yes, other animals can do that, obviously. But to be human, you get the opportunity to step back and question why. Why should we all come together under love and art and adventure and hardship? Being human is being able to ask the hard questions, and use the collective feedback of your entire species for answers to live with purpose, stepping out of survival mode.
To Experience moments to report back to the higher being that created life itself
It means being so utterly dumb, selfish, greedy and short-termist as individuals and collectively that you ruin life on your own home planet. I’d rather be anonymous.
And yet to be so compassionate that we care about the well-being of humans on the other side of the world and even completely different species, brilliant, creative, hopeful and determined. Humans are all the things and we get to choose which ones to focus on.
Human means of the genus Homo. Currently there is only one species of humans( homo sapiens) Extinct species include Homo neanderthalensis, Homo floresiensis, and others. But I think you may be asking what it means to be a human person. For that I would give a very different answer. This distinction is of crucial importance. I am from the US, female, and nearly sixty.
Luckily, there is no wrong answer :) I'm asking vaguely to see the initial reactions of people. To see if they go the personal belief route, the philosophical route, the religious route, the psychological route, or the scientific route. No wrong answers, it's just brilliant to see how people think when approached with the question. You did wonderfully :)
Being human involves having humanity. While cultures differ they all prize honor, compassion, empathy and kindness as traits to strive for. As for me, Midwestern USA, adult millennial.
also, male
Some might say that to be superstitious, rapacious, and vicious would be the epitome of what it means to be human.
Teenage guy from the US. \------------------------------- Humanity is a scale, honestly. For example, although C3PO is probably more human than R2D2, he still definitely isn't human in the same way you and I are. I'm going to be largely ignoring the obvious ends of the spectrum (the boulder from Indiana Jones is obviously not human, whereas Indy himself obviously is), and focusing on the examples that are less clear cut. Particularly in robots, because I think that'll make my examples the most clear. How is the scale defined? How much personality they have plays a big role for me. For example, I'd say the Arnold Terminator in T1 is much less human than the one in T2, even though they're practically identical on the outside. How much they look like a human also plays a role, as shown the C3PO and R2D2 example from earlier. Similarly, something like the Hal 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey or Towers from Interstellar would definitely not be, while the Machines like B1-66ER in The AniMatrix are much more human. Cyborgs also get a boost in humanness. The simulants in The Creator I consider to be human in almost everything but name. Same with the DC superhero Cyborg, except he leans even more towards the human side since he originally was human. So what makes someone human? Vibes, honestly. Do they seem human? If so, then yea they count.
If you want a dark answer: to suffer.
humans are imperfect beings always in pursuit of perfection or at least a "happier" circumstance china, female, teen
To be conscious within the bounds of the human body. That which is caused into existence as the functional state of the human brain.
to be imperfect and make mistakes
to be able to feel emotion & be vulnerable 16f vietnam.
In my own experience, being human has meant inheriting a knot of contradictions that one spends a lifetime teasing out — to have it bundle up over and over. Funny to think of it that way, because that is what happens during meiosis. Our DNA ravels and unravels in a constant flux, not only to make our bodies but to maintain them, and I’ve discovered that everything we do is an image of what we are, of “matter” that surrounds us and is a part of us, and to be human is to be drawn to symbolic rites to know ourselves beyond our senses, despite being bound by them. 37, female, USA
What does it mean to be inhuman? How do you quantify a Species as numerous as Humans? There are 7, nearly 8, Billions of us on this planet and we're all Human. I am a Human unlike you, and in turn you are a Human unlike me. Humans have sought meaning for themselves and their lives, and many are still searching. If there is one thing Humans can do it's find fulfillment in their lives. Animals don't have that luxury, and they go through their lives just surviving. You won't find another creature on this rock that will train for years just to run for hours for enjoyment. Humans find meaning in the fulfillment they choose. Anonymous.
It kinda depends on if you mean "what does it mean to be a person?" with that question? Which I would assume it is. The other interpretation is more easily answered but more boring as it would be too be a person born into the human race. Which I guess is a tautological statement now that I think on it. Personhood is a harder nut to crack. Either you make a definition to wide and invite any barrel-living philosopher with a plucked chicken to shoot you down or to narrow in which you exclude people at best or commit atrocities at worst. I think the experience of being a person is unique for everyone while very similar in the broad strokes.
To me, sentience. And what does sentience mean? Well, to me, everything that makes you human. To elaborate on that I see it as a combination of intelligence, emotion, and importantly but often overlooked, language. 20, M, Nova Scotia CA
Humanity.. if you don’t have it simply ur a garbage to me
The capacity for love and compassion. The ability to strive for survival despite the odds being against it. The potential for evil, yet the ability to suppress those desires. The ability to learn from mistakes and grow as a result of them. 35, Male, USA
I don’t think there is a straight answer. Maybe cognitive sentience. Maybe the ability to ask this question. To tell stories. To think analytically. To love. To sacrifice for others out of love and not instinct. To be a member of our species. To be capable of all this at once. When we say “human” or “humanity” I feel like we’re asking something more—what’s it like to have a soul, to be sentient, conscious? Distinctive in a way hard to point down? I’m mainly thinking about aliens tbh. If a species arrived as intelligent and emotional and biological as us, it doesn’t make them part of Humanity to me, but it makes them of equal value and of equal difficulty to answer what makes THEM them. 18. AFAB. USA.
It is to try and find meaning.
I'll go to the song's lyrics. "A man's a man who looks another man right between the eyes."
TLDR (lol): Humans are creatures of misunderstanding. The fundamental desire is to understand, but they exist in what can never be understood. They themselves are incapable of understanding their own make up. Therefore, the function of the human is not actually to understand, or fight, or reconcile but simply tolerate the entropy therein. And hopefully one day attain that which is a hold through in every belief system in history, in my background, it’s called serenity, but it could be simply summarized as doing exactly the opposite of what every fiber of your being is saying to do, stop fighting the rapids, let go, ride the current and have faith that it will land you on a sunny beach. And what it means to be human is found in the journey one takes to get there. (M, 22, USA) I don’t really know where to begin so I guess I want to start rambling until I get to something approximating a conclusion to be human is to be the personification of contradiction, to always fall just short of satisfaction, on a fractal like scale. There is a Duality to being human. We all know this, but there’s a Duality to Duality as well. A human is an amalgamation of competing desires, needs beliefs, etc. all bound together by a cognitive dissonance. It’s really hard for me to put what I’m trying to explain into words, but the thing that made me feel like I really understood the place of humans in the universe was through the following mental journey if you will, reminding that I can only speak from my own experience and assume it is more or less, that of others. In my estimation Humans believe they exist to understand when they really exist to learn how to tolerate a universe that supersedes understanding. It’s almost too perfect how perfectly out of place humans are in their environment, With our own brains, there is more complexity than in the entire external universe at least that we will ever be aware of. That complexity can’t even understand more than one or two facets of its own function if that can even be said, and that takes its entire lifetime. It’s just perfectly imperfect. The sheer concept of theoretical science, exists simply to satisfy and human desired understand, but is incapable of actually understanding anything. Fuck I don’t even understand how to explain not understanding. This is where I’m assuming. We like one person who tolerated my rambling long enough to get this far is going to stop reading, but this is where at least in my mind is a function of religion exists. Humans are perfectly imperfect creatures in a perfectly imperfect world. You can make your own conclusion about what that says about creators and what not. But I would surely like to discuss with anybody who disagrees with the following premises, which will also be the tldr. Humans are creatures of misunderstanding. The fundamental desire is to understand, but they exist in what can never be understood. They themselves are incapable of understanding their own make up. Therefore, the function of the humans existence is not actually to understand but tolerate the entropy therein. And hopefully one day attain that which is a hold through in every belief system ever to grace history, in my background, it’s called serenity, some might call it nirvana or any number of other names, but it could be simply summarized as doing exactly the opposite of what every fiber of your being is saying to do, stop fighting the rapids, let go, ride the current and have faith that it will land you on a sunny beach. And what it means to be human is found in the journey one takes to get there. (M, 22, USA)
Are you … human? This is such a convoluted question I can’t even fathom …. and I fit the category
To me, to be human means to allow yourself to feel, to be, to breathe. A spiritual experience in a physical body. 23, F, Australia
To be really smart and really dumb in equal measure.
To be human is to be a species that has evolved more intelligence than it knows what to do with and is struggling with knowing what to want in a purposeless universe where it can choose any purpose it wants. Oh, and is still entirely an animal. - Anonymous (Australia)
It means to be a beacon of hope to others. Well for me atleast
In my opinion, to be human is to have compassion, emotion, sympathy, and empathy. To be human is to have a kind heart. Those who are unkind in life and lack the pillars are just simply... NPC's.
What it means to be a human... It means being able to experience struggle, happiness, pain, suffering, anguish, love, hate, pleasure, confidence, doubt, fear, confusion, bravery, cowardice. I guess what I'm saying is being human to me is being able to simultaneously feel and experience different and sometimes opposite emotions while worrying about the emotions of the people we have certain emotions for. It's unique as far as we know, except for some animal species. But even the proven depth of emotion isn't comparable to that of the human. Emotions drive us to and from experiences and relationships. They are a defining factor in determining who we identify as people. Emotions lead to individuality and conformity. Humans love and kill other humans based off emotional responses. In my rather humble opinion, being human means experiencing the full spectrum of emotions on an almost daily basis and navigating life based on those experiences. I have lived in the United States for 33 years. I have had more jobs than years I have been alive. I have traveled to different countries, I have saved lives, delivered babies, and watched the people I love die. I have been married and divorced. I'm a father myself and a son to an alcoholic father. I have battled substance abuse and was homeless for a year living out of a broken down SUV in the woods. I have used and been used. Taken advantage of and manipulated things for my benefit. I have been a good man and a bad man within the same decade. I have contemplated suicide and enjoyed life on the same day. I have been in love and been loved. I have felt heartbreak and failure. I have no idea why humans have been given the gift of life only to struggle to make sense of it. But I do believe it's our emotional depth that makes us human.... Sorry this was so long.
I feel like the main idea behind being human is in the concept of value or purpose. Like all other living things, we are brought into this reality out of nowhere and have this tendency, or really this need, to find a purpose for having been brought here. I feel like at tue center of all our choices, there are underlying core purposes that we either consciously or subconsciously strive to prove. Acknowledging these purposes gives you a better understanding of who “you” are, in my view. Wonder if anybody had a similar response.
To think inward and outward to such great lengths we become terrified to know the answer. To be cursed with a consciousness that dares to think how and why we exist instead of mearly existing.
Emotions are a big factor, intelligence/civilisations/ top of the food chain
To change. 19, F, USA :)
It means that you exist for a moment, however ephemeral, which is a really beautiful, random, special kind of thing.
A human is ultimately a collection of the choices they made througout the many moments of their lives.
When you break it down we’re all just brains encased in random meat suits, and to think differently of others is part of our human condition which many don’t like to accept, and think they are above.
I feel like, at least from my own perspective, the thing that make us human is our free will. Unlike all other species in the animal kingdom, we as humans have an individual knowledge of what is considered good and what is considered evil, and it is our free will that gives us the ability to choose between the two. Not to mention that we also have the intelligence to reflect on said choices and have the free will to once again choose whether or not to stay on the path we are on or change our behavior for better or worse. 26, Male, USA
Human: Featherless Biped with Broad Flat Nails. Plato. Male (he/him). Greek.
To be human is to decide what it means to be human.
I think the concept of what it means to be human is very general. It is difficult to capture its essence in a response when it’s so violently subjective. But in attempt I think it means being blessed with the gift of self, of knowledge and of experience. To be human is to be loved and to be known. Because I am a human, I can indulge in the gift of creation and self expression. Because I am a homo sapiens, I can ponder such an intricate question with others of my kind. :) 19, United States
To suffer the sorrows of the world, but to also revel in its joys. We are to witness the world in all its facets, no matter good or bad. To realize its gifts and cruelties. No matter how harsh our lives treat us, we are to live, live and live, so that our stories will be engaved upon the earth, forever leaving an impact. No matter how minuscule, humans will forever desire to leave a mark, a piece of proof that each one of them had once existed in this mortal plane. -- Midterms must be getting to me hehe 19, female, Hong Kong
To be human is to make choices and mistakes. No other creature can choose to go against their instinct and thus they can't make mistakes. Mistakes define us both in the eyes of our society and as people, thanks to the consequences we suffer
>What does it mean to be human? From a biological point of view, that simply means possessing a DNA associated with homo sapiens sapiens, a mammal, a primate. From a societal perspective, I'd like it to define for myself fuctionalistically - a human is a member of certain group with corresponding rights and obligations coming from their function within the group, however, that's for me is more of a definition of a human being. And a mixed point of view: A human is a self conscious living being. Something that is able to construct massive abstract concepts without the need to visualize it in order to comprehend it. Something that is able to complicated communication and forming relationships with other beings, not nesseserily living or human, by attributing to it their own perspective, or projecting on it their thoughts about the being and its supposed function and behavior. Something that is able to construct a self soothing imaginary conversations with itself in order to solve a problem of existential anxiety that never existed until a human invented it and every human continues to reinvent it for itself. Greeting from a 18 years old man from Russia
being human means directing ourselves with our own conscious thoughts and rationale, understanding ourselves and the world we live in, and living among one another. 25, male, united states
Nothing at all, but also whatever you decide. An insult is just a jumble of noise unless you decide that it can hurt you. Meaning is subjective.
In this world, being human is a matter of having a soul and being a beloved child of a God. These are the core elements of our nature, and from them stem other elements of humanity, such as free will and temptation. In the world of my fantasy novel, as this is r/writers, it means something entirely different. 16m, USA, adopted these viewpoints to fight a critical existential crisis.
Egobrain.
Probably, if you search hard enough you'll find a 100+ paper about it on Google Scholar...
To be commenting here right now and with just enough mental brain power to feel bad about myself.
This is a central theme in my book too. To Livia, a young woman who longs more than anything to be ‘human’ after spending her life as a weapon and then having her memories removed from her by a goddess - to be human is to belong. To have memories to share with other people as proof of your existence. A past. And a future. If no one knows who you are, only what use you can provide for them, you are not human. You are a tool. something easily discarded. To Ozzy, a man who has watched his wife die, his children be stollen away, and monsters devour anything he’s ever loved. to be human, to him, is to have a strength of will that can rival the gods. Ozzy genuinely believes the human spirit is the most powerful catalyst for change. He derived purpose from purging evil monsters from the world to preserve the innocence of civilians who he wants to shelter from the destruction of monsters like demons. Ozzy is a father at heart, who lost his children young, he wants to better the future, and he’d train an army of monster slayers to do it. its the world his wife wanted. To arlo, who is a child of the el Salvadoran civil war (book is in 1988), who has seen humans do so much damage to one another other that the scent of blood attracted monsters to the frenzy. He’s lost his sister, not to demons like most of the cast, but to the violence in the war. So, to be human is to be capable of great evil. Humans are flawed machines, and in that sense, what point is there in resisting carnal desires? Make love today, something might kill you tomorrow. Don’t get attached. People are not their past or their future. They are only right now. There is no point in waiting for the right woman. Or in settling down, not when some monster can come from the dark and take it away. the common thread: it’s to loose something intangible and d long for it back. That is what makes us human. To spend our lives scrambling for shards of our selves, to take bits and pieces of mosaic from others and add it to our menagerie. we end this path broken, twisted, sure. But in the right light, we cast a wonderful shadow, of many colors and shapes. with out that humanity, we are just plain windows through which to see a colorless world.
Means you gotta do taxes.
To live like every other animal. Differences in our genetics and experiences shape the world around us, as much as we are shaped by it. Woman 33, Italy
If we read Genesis as a metaphor for evolution, then self-awareness and the ability to consume and hold knowledge is the final step that sets us apart from the jungle/garden.
To be human is to have the DNA for a lateral frontal pole prefrontal cortex. 29, male, USA
To be a literal child of God with infinite worth and divine potential. To have the opportunity to become like Him and inherit all that He has. To have the gift of agency and to be able to choose freely for ourselves. To be a part of an eternal family. 27 f, US
Humans are a species of great ape. Homo sapien, considered by themselves to be the dominant species on planet Earth, the humans are neither the most populous nor the most widespread. As the last surviving member of the genus Homo, humans can be considered evolutionary outliers. However, it is highly likely that the success of this species is largely responsible for the extinction of its close relatives and as such it is not considered at risk of extinction by competition. This species is highly sociable, and yet, contradictorily, extremely violent. Due to its superstitious nature, the average human is easily led towards self harm by religious fervour and in spite of significant technological advancement, the species has proven itself unwilling to attempt a cooperative effort at reducing the ongoing climate crisis that will most likely be the ultimate extinction event of its near future.
I completely understand if you do not agree with my response though I will say my answer has to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Genisis it says we, female and male were created in the image of God, so simply put we are different than animals because unlike the many creatures of the Earth, we were as the scripture says created in God's image. We look like God and also have great potential to become like that. To be human means we are God's children. And I know this to the true.
To be human is to feel. With all the complexities and multifaceted aspects of being human, feeling is the common thread that runs through it all. Emotions and feelings are the foundation of our human experience, and they play a crucial role in shaping our thoughts, behaviors, and relationships. Feeling is the essence of being human, and it's what makes our experiences, relationships, and accomplishments truly meaningful. Whether it's joy, love, sorrow, or wonder, emotions are the threads that weave our lives together and give us a sense of purpose and belonging. In a sense, feeling is the glue that holds our humanity together, and it's what makes us uniquely human. So, yes, with all the options and complexities of being human, feeling is indeed the only way for it to be.