posted
Completely by chance, I found myself on the Wikipedia article simply titled "Human." In a matter of seconds, I was fascinated. It is a very long article, and in a quick scan if it, it appeared to cover nearly everything about humanity in a general way. It is written for a society of aliens, it seems, who wish to learn about our species. It covers everything from genetics to evolution to art and science and religion and politics.
Also, the pictures on the side are very interesting. The images chosen to represent all of humanity are: a crude outline of a man and a woman; a drawing of a skelaton; an random Inuit woman; a drawing of a fetus; two random girls; a skull; a map of early human migration; a brain; a painting, "Rest on Flight to Egypt"; another painting "Tio Paquete" by Goya; a statue, "The Kiss"; a statue of a man meditating; "the largest religious gathering in history"; a painting of Plato and Aristotle; "The Thinker", a statue; an astronaut; the UN building; the atom bomb going off; and a market in Guatemala.
quote: The philosophical questions of when human personhood begins and whether it persists after death are the subject of considerable debate. The prospect of death causes unease or fear for most humans. Burial ceremonies are characteristic of human societies, often inspired by beliefs in an afterlife or immortality.
on physiology:
quote: Humans are capable of fully bipedal locomotion, thus leaving their arms available for manipulating objects using their hands, aided especially by opposable thumbs. Because human physiology has not fully adapted to bipedalism, the pelvic region and vertebral column tend to become worn, creating locomotion difficulties in old age.
on life cycle:
quote: At birth, the fully-grown fetus is expelled from the female's body and breathes independently as an infant for the first time. At this point, most modern cultures recognize the baby as a person entitled to the full protection of the law, though some jurisdictions extend personhood to human fetuses while they remain in the uterus.
on diet:
quote: The human diet is prominently reflected in human culture, and has led to the development of food science. In general, humans can survive for two to eight weeks without food, depending on stored body fat. Survival without water is usually limited to three or four days.
on consciousness:
quote: The brain also controls "higher" order, conscious activities, such as thought, reasoning, and abstraction.[37] The human brain is generally regarded as more capable of these higher order activities, and more "intelligent" in general, than any other species.
again:
quote: The human ability to think abstractly may be unparalleled in the animal kingdom. Human beings are one of only six species to pass the mirror test—which tests whether an animal recognizes its reflection as an image of itself—along with chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, dolphins, and possibly pigeons.
on art:
quote: Art is one of the most unusual aspects of human behavior and a key distinguishing feature of humans from other species.
on space:
quote: Human habitation within closed ecological systems in hostile environments, such as Antarctica and outer space, is expensive, typically limited in duration, and restricted to scientific, military, or industrial expeditions. Life in space has been very sporadic, with no more than thirteen humans in space at any given time. Between 1969 and 1972, two humans at a time spent brief intervals on the Moon. As of 2006, no other celestial body has been visited by human beings, although there has been a continuous human presence in space since the launch of the initial crew to inhabit the International Space Station on October 31, 2000.
on ...?
quote:Humans often consider themselves to be the dominant species on Earth, and the most advanced in intelligence and ability to manage their environment. This belief is especially strong in modern Western culture. Alongside such claims of dominance is often found radical pessimism because of the frailty and brevity of human life.
quote: The human ability to think abstractly may be unparalleled in the animal kingdom. Human beings are one of only six species to pass the mirror test—which tests whether an animal recognizes its reflection as an image of itself—along with chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, dolphins, and possibly pigeons.
Actually elephants passed this test fairly recently,(like just weeks ago,) I should edit the article and link the news report on CNN.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote: The human ability to think abstractly may be unparalleled in the animal kingdom. Human beings are one of only six species to pass the mirror test—which tests whether an animal recognizes its reflection as an image of itself—along with chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, dolphins, and possibly pigeons.
This is out of date: elephants do, too, a discovered recently.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think wikipedia can teach an alien civilization the entirety of humanity if they read all of the articles.
Posts: 2705 | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
You know, maybe I'm going out on a limb, but I think elephants have passed the mirror test, too.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
*whisper* Those of us who have gotten tired of being beaten to the punch by the cite-less have learned to post first, and edit in a citation later.
posted
Agg! I cut out the part about the elephants because it wasn't relevant to the quote -- (the part I liked most about that quote was the pigeons, actually) and I didn't notice it until after I'd copy-pasted. Obviously I should have included it...sorry guys. Posts: 464 | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I thought that this thread was going to tell us that there is a new entry in Wikipedia about the fictional piggie/Pequenino named Human!
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:I thought that this thread was going to tell us that there is a new entry in Wikipedia about the fictional piggie/Pequenino named Human!
Oh, someone make a disambiguation link and add a Human the Pequenino article. They already have a Pequenino article.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
<you have all just been spared a long, drawn-out shaggy dog story about a young apprentice baker named Shawn, his brutal Italian-speaking overseer, and his rather violent reaction to being told he hadn't added enough of the Teuh spice to the morning's loaves>
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
