What is a "human"?


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daft27

daft27

-nya
Retired
What is a human? If you want to look at it scientifically, you can say...

"96.2% of body weight comes from "organic elements" present in many
different forms. DNA, RNA proteins, lipids and sugars are all composed of
primarily O, C, H and N. Also, Water (H2O) and carbon
dioxide (CO2)as well as other small molecules involve these elements.

Oxygen (65.0%)
Carbon (18.5%)
Hydogen (9.5%)
Nitrogen (3.2%)

3.9% of body weight comes from elements present in the form of salts.
Don't be fooled by their minute quantities, they are very important for
the maintenance of homeostasis (meaning "well balanced organism").
Calcium is a major component of bones and teeth. Iron is necessary for
oxygen transport by red blood cells. Sulfur is present in most proteins
and potassium keeps your heart beating smoothly and regularly.
Calcium (1.5%)
Phosphorus (1.0%)
Potassium (0.4%)
Sulfur (0.3%)
Sodium (0.2%
Chlorine (0.2%)
Magnesium (0.1%)
Iodine (0.1%)
Iron (0.1%)

The trace elements compose less than 0.5% of total body weight but then
again, they are essential for homeostasis. Some of these elements are
cofactors of critical enzymes in the body (meaning that without them,
enzyme cannot work at all and that even low concentrations of them can make
the enzyme work very well.)

Chromium (trace)
Cobalt (trace)
Copper (trace)
Fluorine (trace)
Manganese (trace)
Molybdenum (trace)
Selenium (trace)
Tin (trace)
Vanadium (trace)
Zinc (trace)

As for vitamins and minerals, they are important but normally, if you eat
well (with lots of vegetables and fruits) you don't need to take extra
vitamins (e.g. Flinstones). BUT! If you don't eat so well and you are
still growing (I don't know your age, sorry), then it's not so bad to take
these vitamins after all."
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/may99...09210.An.r.html

but of course, the pure scientific view is a little cold. I think if you were to define a human, you would have to add a soul or spirit of some sort to that definition and you have something closer to what I would define as a human.

For now, I'll say a human is an organic machine meant to serve as a vessel for the soul. "Free the mind!"
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descartes: i think therefore my existance is real.
me: i sleep therefore i am real.
abortionist: it is too hard to define a person, we are what we are
me (version 2): if a person is just a brain linked to a speaker and a camera is it still a person?
smart person: what does the above have to do with abortion?
me: i think late term abortions is like killing
wierd person: davidY is wierd. does good reasons warrant abortions? like if the woman have money?
another guy: well that is like: is it ok to kill an adult because their grandparents dosent have money
 
human : is a vessel for the immortal soul that imbued with passion or will and heart n mind too control it. Without a soul then u can call it a doll or robot. Without mind and heart then u can call it animal or beast. So heart and mind make human special in God's eye, its so special than the other god creation.
 
I actually don't believe there is something called "soul", but I guess that depends on how you define a soul. I don't believe in any of the religions or anything, so..

I define a human just like I'd define any living thing. We're animals, too. We will eventually die, and then we'll see what happens. Either we just die, our mind ceasing to exist, or we "live" on. Our body will be absorbed into nature once again, either way.

Only weakminded people believe in a life after death, which may sound a bit harsh, and that's not how I intended it. I'm just saying that I can't believe there's any other reason to believe in a life after death, since you can't prove it. It's just wishful thinking based on the fact that a few books (the bible) and some people said it's so.

Am I wrong? Do you have any evidence or reasons to believe in any "God" ? Just face the facts. Unless you want to believe that God or a heretic (me) is testing your faith.

Not that I can't tolerate your beliefs or anything though, so don't take it personal.

Yay, got that rant off my chest.
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"A man grows old; he feels in himself that radical sense of weakness, of listlessness, of discomfort, which accompanies the advance of age; and, feeling thus, imagines himself merely sick, lulling his fear with the notion that this distressing condition is due to some particular cause, from which, as from an illness, he hopes to recover. Vain imaginings! That sickness is old age; and a horrible disease it is. They say that it is the fear of death and of what comes after death that makes men turn to religion as they advance years...for now that all that gave to the world of sensations its life and charms has begun to leak away from us, now that phoenomenal existence is no more blostered up by impressions from within or from without, we feel the need to lean on something that abides, something that will never play us false - a reality, an absolute and everlasting truth. Yes, we inevitable turn to God; for this religious sentiment is of its nature so pure, so delightful to the soul that experiences it, that it makes up to us for all our other losses."

>.< typed that from a book I'm reading, I think it's quoting another philosopher, not sure. personally, I believe life after death, and yes I admit it's something I tell myself to make myself feel better and less scared. but as long as I believe in something...I have a reason to live on

there are some people who believe humans are superior than other animals, and we are not animals. through a scientifically perspective, we are just mammals. however our special adaptation is our brain. we evolve by changing what is around us, instead of evolving because something around us is changing. I'm going kind of off topic? o_O"
 
QUOTE (EvilTomte @ Dec 1 2004, 06:12 AM)Only weakminded people believe in a life after death, which may sound a bit harsh, and that's not how I intended it. I'm just saying that I can't believe there's any other reason to believe in a life after death, since you can't prove it. It's just wishful thinking based on the fact that a few books (the bible) and some people said it's so.


even if you say it's nothing personal, this part is still offensive. T_T

but then again,

QUOTE (random @ Nov 25 2004, 09:41 PM ) Opinions are like a**holes. Everyone has one.

so humans are cool. because each have their own opinions. each are unique too ^__^
 
does anybody think animals and humans are equivalent - as in the animal rights groups that may think that animals are more important than humans. does anybody think whether animals think?
 
It's quite a hard question to answer, but to cut it short, a person is something that has feelings, like love, hate etc.

Animals do think, but their thinking is limited to hunger, hurt etc. They don't feel love or passion etc, and even if they do, its to a very limited extent.

Humans, though far from perfect, are just leagues above animals. Could you imagine animals creating technology and living lives more civilized than they do now?
 
yeah true. deep moral questions are the hardest to answer, especially when you have no morals (humans as a species, i think i read somewhere that we are the only species that kill their own)
 
QUOTE (davidY @ Dec 4 2004, 03:22 AM) yeah true. deep moral questions are the hardest to answer, especially when you have no morals (humans as a species, i think i read somewhere that we are the only species that kill their own)
it is quite natural for spiders to eat their own kind, let alone kill.
dinosaurs, some felines, birds, there are many species of animals that kill their own kind :/
 
QUOTE (davidY @ Dec 4 2004, 03:22 AM)yeah true. deep moral questions are the hardest to answer, especially when you have no morals (humans as a species, i think i read somewhere that we are the only species that kill their own)


There are many species that kill their own. Spiders, birds, monkeys, felines, canines, etc. There are even herbivores that do it (intentional - Mating rights between males, unintentional - when a herd is migrating and has to cross a river, getting out on the other side sometimes involves trampling to death of those less sure footed).
 
QUOTE (chibinyaa @ Dec 4 2004, 05:25 AM)it is quite natural for spiders to eat their own kind, let alone kill.
dinosaurs, some felines, birds, there are many species of animals that kill their own kind :/
in fur's point of view humans are the highest class of animals capable of thinking of killing themsellves.
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human - a creation of evolution, a being capable of adapting to various environments using his is own intelligence, a being capable of asking the question... the question "why?", we humans praise ourselves as we are, in our opinion, better than animals, better than other living creatures, but what are we? we are nothing more than a few hundred million years of evolution, a quick blink in the eye of the universe, in a million years... will we exist? will we look the same as today? will we be able to feel as we do it today? we, humans, are nothing... yet at the same time, we fill out the emptiness of the universe with our presence -> an interesting paradox you might say ;)
the phrase "we are stardust" is for me the most fitting poetical description of the being we call "human" ;)
end of story ;)
 
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