What makes us human

A topic way too heavy for us intellectual lightweights, but isn't this part of the charm of blogging?

A PBS show tried to give some answers to the question what makes us human.

As the show demonstrated, it has become much more difficult over time to provide a clear, simple answer. Culture and tool use, two old mainstays of "being human" are out of the equation when it comes to the difference between humans and the great apes. For so long, we studied the great apes in such a limited setting with few means, we had to get it wrong.

It's as if, say, an alien studied people at an out of control soccer match in Europe and concluded we were all hyper emotional violent booze fiends.

When the show looked for other answers, it became rather murky.

In the end, they settled for the "triangle" of interaction, showing a baby and a mother interacting over a thing. The argument was: the baby knows that the mother sees the object and interacts accordingly.

But what about a cat coming up to you, telling you there is something wrong with her brother? Basically asking you for help. We have seen it more than once - and did not get it the first time!

And then there was the pointing experiment in the show. Children soon understand what pointing at an object means. Apes do not, dogs do. Dogs have learned it in many years close to humans...would apes learn it in the same way and pass it on to their kids?

Another aspect that we find a little odd is that bonobos have been left out of the studies for so long. Obvious moral arguments meant chimps and gorillas plus the odd orangutang were looked at, but the "oversexed" bonobos, Lord, no.

The ability to control emotions better than our closest relatives is another argument in the quest to show the difference. But there is enough emotional volatility in humans to weaken the argument, just look at the soccer matches or any civil war.

What does make us human then?

Language?
The bonobo who knows 3 000 words of English is ahead of little humans for quite a few years.

Space flight?
Monkeys have been in space. They did not invent it, but neither did the businessman who got into the space station because he can sign a check.

Helping another fellow humans in danger?
Once you have seen the Idaho elk who seeks out an injured fellow elk threatened by wolves and stays with the injured elk through the night, many people do not look so brave any longer.

Drug use?
Look at the documentary in which wild animals, many normally enemies, gather to feast on fermented fruit and get drunk.

Having a job?
We make other animals have jobs, too. And some of them take it very serious and are taken seriously for it -- a police dog becomes an "officer", an attack on one is penalized much heavier than, say, beating up a homeless human. And having a "regular job" is very recent, too.

Killing for sport?
Including wiping out species, could be another real candidate. Although scientists say that some cats kill even when they are not hungry. Dumb humans, dumb cats? Nobody does genocide better than humans.

Art?
Sorry, Mr. Picasso, but those painting elephants, man, are they cool. Apes like heavy metal and techno, too. Whales do great songs.

Religion? Big science? Wasting money? Being one bad winter away from cannibalism?

We are somewhat confused, the big subject won't quite fit into this blogster's brain -- writing a post is really a means to banish it all.

In the end, the blogster settles for the label "human". We are human because we decided to create the label.

It has certain advantages to group animals, and we humans are good at that.