Human

## General Information

The human species is the most prevalent and widely distributed primate species. Humans are a big ape with enormous brains that allow for more sophisticated cognitive abilities that allow them to survive and adapt in a variety of situations and create complex societies and civilizations. They are also known for being hairless, bipedal, and highly intelligent. Due to their high level of social interaction, humans typically reside in intricate social structures made up of both rival and cooperative groupings, such as political states and families. Human civilization is supported by a vast array of values, social norms, languages, and rituals that have been developed as a result of social interactions between individuals. Humanity has developed technological advancements, philosophy, mythology, religion, and other frameworks of knowledge out of a desire to comprehend and affect phenomena.

In common usage, the term "humans" implies Homo sapiens, the only member of the genus now living, even if some scientists use it to refer to all members of Homo. Posthumously, other Homo species members are recognized as archaic humans. Anatomically modern humans descended from Homo heidelbergensis or a closely related species and originated in Africa approximately 300,000 years ago. As they migrated out of Africa, they progressively displaced the native communities of archaic humans and interbred with them. The majority of human history was spent as a nomadic hunter-gatherer species. The first signs of contemporary human behavior appeared between 160,000 and 60,000 years ago. Around 13,000 years ago, in Southwest Asia and a few other regions, the Neolithic Revolution brought about the establishment of agriculture and permanent human habitation. Forms of governance emerged both within and across communities as people grew denser and larger, and several civilizations have come and gone. As of 2023, there were over 8 billion people on the planet, and this number is expected to rise. Human population has continued to grow.

Human biological variety in visible traits, physiology, susceptibility to disease, mental ability, physical size, and life duration is influenced by both genes and environment. Humans differ in a wide range of characteristics, including physical characteristics and genetic predispositions, although they are genetically similar in at least 99% of cases. Humans are sexually dimorphic, meaning that women often have a higher percentage of body fat and men often have more muscle mass. Humans acquire traits of secondary sex throughout adolescence. Women have the ability to become pregnant, usually between the ages of 50 and 12, when they reach menopause and puberty.

Since Homo erectus, humans have prepared and cooked food using fire and other sources of heat. Humans are omnivores, able to consume a wide variety of plant and animal material. Without food or water, humans can last for up to eight weeks and even several days. People sleep seven to nine hours a day on average since they are diurnal creatures. Giving birth is risky because there's a big chance of complications and even death. When a kid is born defenseless, it is common for both the mother and the father to care for them.

The area of the brain linked to higher cognition, the prefrontal cortex, is vast, intricate, and highly developed in humans. In addition to having fluid facial expressions, episodic memory, self-awareness, and a theory of mind, humans are extremely intelligent. The human mind is able to reflect, think privately, imagine, choose, and form opinions about life. This has made it feasible to construct sophisticated tools and make significant technological improvements through sophisticated reasoning and knowledge transfer to future generations. Trade, art, and language are what make people human. It's possible that long-distance trade routes caused resource distribution and cultural booms, giving humans a benefit over comparable species.

### History

#### Evolution

The Hominoidea superfamily includes humans. The ape lineage that ultimately gave rise to humans divided first into gorillas (genus Gorilla), then into chimpanzees and bonobos (genus Pan), after splitting from gibbons (family Hylobatidae) and orangutans (genus Pongo). Around 8–4 million years ago, during the late Miocene period, the human and chimpanzee–bonobo lineages split apart for the last time. Humans have just 23 pairs of chromosomes, opposed to 24 for the other apes, as a result of this split, which created chromosome 2 by connecting two existing chromosomes. The hominins divided into numerous species and a minimum of two separate genera after splitting from chimpanzees and bonobos. Representing the genus Homo and its only living member, Homo sapiens, all but one of these lineages are now extinct.

Australopithecus gave rise to the genus Homo. The earliest archaic human species to arise 2 million years ago and spread throughout Eurasia was Homo erectus (the African variety is sometimes referred to as Homo ergaster). Additionally, Homo erectus was the first to evolve a morphology that is exclusive to humans. About 300,000 years ago, a type of humans known as H. heidelbergensis or H. rhodesiensis—the African ancestors of H. erectus—emerged, giving rise to modern Homo sapiens. After leaving the continent, H. sapiens gradually displaced local populations of archaic humans or interbred with them. The first signs of contemporary human behavior appeared between 160,000 and 70,000 years ago, maybe even even earlier.

At least two waves of the "out of Africa" migration occurred; the first occurred between 130,000 and 100,000 years ago, and the second, known as the Southern Dispersal, between 70,000 and 50,000 years ago. From 300 to 1280 CE, Homo sapiens colonized every continent and bigger island in the world. They arrived in Eurasia 125,000 years ago, Australia about 65,000 years ago, the Americas about 15,000 years ago, and isolated islands like Hawaii, Easter Island, Madagascar, and New Zealand.

The development of humans involved crossbreeding between related species rather than a straightforward linear or branched trend. Human evolution frequently involved hybridization between highly divergent lineages, according to genomic study. Neanderthals and other hominins, like Denisovans, may have given up to 6% of their genome to modern non-sub-Saharan African humans. DNA evidence indicates that many genes of Neanderthal origin are present across all non-sub-Saharan African groups.

Numerous physical, developmental, physiological, and behavioral shifts that have occurred since the separation between the final common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees define the evolution of humans. Among these adaptations, hairlessness, obligatory bipedalism, larger brains, and reduced sexual dimorphism (neoteny) are the most notable. There is continuous discussion over the connection between all of these changes.

#### Pre-History

Prior to approximately 12,000 years ago, all people were hunter-gatherers. The development of agriculture, known as the Neolithic Revolution, began in Southwest Asia and extended over the ensuing millennia to encompass much of the Old World. Additionally, it happened on its own in Papua New Guinea, China, Mesoamerica (about 6,000 years ago), and the African Sahel and West Savanna regions.

The establishment of long-lasting human communities, the domestication of animals, and the earliest recorded use of metal tools were all influenced by the availability of surplus food. Early civilizations emerged as a result of agriculture and sedentary lifestyles.

#### Ancient

The emergence of city-states in the fourth millennium BCE, especially the Sumerian towns of Mesopotamia, led to an urban revolution. Around 3000 BCE, cuneiform script—the first known writing system—appears in these places. The Indus Valley Civilization and Ancient Egypt were two other significant civilizations to emerge during this period. Eventually, they engaged in commerce and produced technological innovations like wheels, plows, and sails. Along with the development of mathematics and astronomy, the Great Pyramid of Giza was constructed. These civilizations may have declined due to a catastrophic drought that lasted for almost a century, with other ones emerging in their wake. Others, like the Poverty Point civilization, the Minoans, and the Shang dynasty, gained dominance in previously uncharted territory while the Babylonians eventually came to rule Mesopotamia.

Many civilizations vanished with the fall of the Late Bronze Age, which occurred about 1200 BCE, and the Greek Dark Ages began. The Iron Age began during this time when iron began to replace bronze.

When history became a discipline and began to be written down in the fifth century BCE, things became much clearer about living in those times. Europe entered the classical antiquity era, which saw the height of the prosperity of ancient Greece and Rome, between the eighth and sixth centuries BCE. At this same period, other civilizations gained importance. The Maya culture began to construct elaborate calendars and cities. The Kingdom of Aksum replaced the waning Kingdom of Kush in Africa, opening up trade routes between India and the Mediterranean. A number of following dynasties in West Asia were inspired by the Achaemenid Empire's centralized government structure, and the Gupta Empire in India and the Han dynasty in China have been hailed as regional gems.

#### Medieval

Europe began the Middle Ages in 476, when the Western Roman Empire fell. Christianity and the Church would supply centralized power and instruction throughout this time. Islam rose to prominence in the Middle East and then spread to North Africa. An Islamic Golden Age resulted, along with notable architectural accomplishments, the resuscitation of antiquated scientific and technological advancements, and the development of a unique way of life. Eventually, the kingdoms of England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire would declare a series of holy wars to retake the Holy Land from the Muslims, igniting a conflict between the Christian and Islamic worlds.

#### Modern

The Byzantine Empire's eventual collapse and the Ottoman Empire's emergence signaled the start of the early modern era in Europe and the Near East (c. 1450–1800). In the meanwhile, the Qing dynasty emerged in China, the Mughal Empire dominated a large portion of India, and Japan entered the Edo era. Beginning in the fifteenth century, Europe saw the Renaissance, and with the exploration and colonization of new lands came the beginnings of the Age of Discovery. This covers the colonization of the Americas and the British Empire's growth to become the biggest empire in the world. The Atlantic slave trade and the erasure of Native American populations were caused by this expansion. Along with significant advancements in mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, and physiology, this era also saw the Scientific Revolution.

The Technological and Industrial Revolutions of the late modern era (1800–present) brought about significant advancements in transportation and energy development, imaging technology, and other fields. The United States of America saw significant transformation, evolving from a modest collection of colonies to a major worldwide force. During the early 1800s, Europe was engulfed in the Napoleonic Wars, which caused Spain to lose most of its possessions in the New World. Meanwhile, Europeans continued to expand into Oceania and Africa, where their influence increased from 10% to over 90% in less than 50 years.

When the First World War, one of the bloodiest battles in history, broke out in 1914, an unstable equilibrium of power among European nations crumbled. Due to a global economic crisis in the 1930s, authoritarian governments rose to power and nearly every nation on Earth participated in the Second World War.

### Properties

#### Habitats

Early human settlements relied on being close to water and, depending on their way of life, other natural resources like animal populations for hunting and fertile land for cultivating crops and housing cattle. Nonetheless, modern people possess the immense ability to modify their environments through technology, construction, urban planning, irrigation, deforestation, and desertification. Natural catastrophes still pose a threat to human communities, particularly to those built poorly and in dangerous places. Grouping and purposeful habitat modification are frequently carried out to offer protection, amass comforts or material goods, increase the amount of food available, improve aesthetics, increase knowledge, or facilitate the interchange of resources.

Despite having a limited capacity to withstand many of the harsh conditions found on Earth, humans are among the most adaptive animals. Humans have expanded their tolerance to a vast range of temperatures, humidity levels, and altitudes thanks to the development of sophisticated tools. Since most other species are restricted in their capacity to adapt, humans are a cosmopolitan species that can be found in nearly every part of the planet, including tropical rainforests, dry deserts, severely cold arctic regions, and badly polluted cities. The distribution of the human population on Earth's surface is not uniform, though, since there are regional differences in population density and vast areas that are virtually deserted.

In the past century, people have ventured into difficult places including space, the deep sea, and Antarctica. It is expensive and difficult for humans to live in these harsh settings; stays are usually brief and limited to industrial, military, or scientific missions. Through robotic spacecraft that they built themselves, humans have made fleeting visits to other celestial worlds, including the Moon. Humans have continuously resided in Antarctica through research stations since the early 20th century and in space since 2000 through living on the International Space Station.

#### Biology

The majority of human physiological characteristics closely resemble their comparable animal physiological characteristics. The legs, torso, arms, neck, and head make up the human body. The human body has around 100 trillion cells in an adult state. The neurological, circulatory, digestive, endocrine, immunological, integumentary, lymphatic, musculoskeletal, reproductive, respiratory, and urinary systems are the human bodily systems that are most often defined. Compared to other primates, humans have much smaller teeth and a correspondingly shorter palate. Their canine teeth are relatively flush and small, making them unique among primates. Humans have packed teeth, and in young people, the gaps left by missing teeth normally close very fast. Third molars are increasingly disappearing from humans, while some people are born without them.

Chimpanzees and humans both have appendices, flexible shoulder joints, gripping fingers, and opposable thumbs. We also share a vestige of a tail. Humans vary from chimpanzees primarily in the areas of hearing, smell, and protein digestion in addition to bipedalism and brain size. Humans have a similar quantity of hair follicles to other apes, however the majority of their hair is vellus hair, which is essentially unnoticeable due to its short length. Compared to chimpanzees, which have few sweat glands mostly on the palms of their hands and the soles of their feet, humans have around 2 million sweat glands distributed throughout their bodies, a significant number.

According to estimates, the average height of an adult male human is around 171 cm, while the average height of an adult female human is approximately 159 cm globally. While some people experience height shrinkage as early as middle age, it is more common among the very old. Human populations have generally grown taller over time, most likely as a result of improved living, eating, and healthcare circumstances. Adult humans weigh an average of 59 kg for females and 77 kg for males. Body type and weight vary considerably across individuals and are impacted by both genetic predisposition and environment, similar to many other illnesses.

Compared to other animals, humans can throw significantly more quickly and accurately. Although they move more slowly over shorter distances, humans are among the finest long-distance runners in the animal kingdom. When running long distances, humans are less likely to get heat exhaustion due to their thinner body hair and more active sweat glands.

#### Genetic Information

Humans are a diploid, eukaryotic species, much like most other animals. Gametes only contain one set of chromosomes, which is a combination of the two parental sets; somatic cells have two sets of 23 chromosomes, each from one parent. There are one pair of sex chromosomes and 22 pairs of autosomes among the 23 pairs of chromosomes. Humans, like other animals, have an XY sex-determination system, meaning that XX chromosomes are found in females and XY chromosomes in men. Human biological variety in visual traits, physiology, susceptibility to disease, and mental ability is influenced by both genes and environment. It's unclear exactly how genes and environment interact to produce particular features.

Even though no two people are genetically identical—not even monozygotic twins—two people will often share 99.5%–99.9% genetic similarity. Compared to other large apes, such as chimpanzees, they are therefore more homogenous. The human population was restricted to a tiny number of breeding pairs during a population bottleneck that occurred during the Late Pleistocene (about 100,000 years ago) based on the little diversity in human DNA compared to many other species. There is evidence that throughout the last 15,000 years, directional selection has occurred in some genomic areas, indicating that the processes of natural selection have not stopped working on human populations.

#### Cycle

While 38 weeks is the average gestation duration, a typical pregnancy might differ by as much as 37 days. In humans, the initial eight weeks of development are referred to as embryonic development; from the start of the ninth week, the embryo is called a fetus. If the baby needs to be born sooner for medical reasons, humans can induce premature labor or perform a caesarean delivery.  Typically, newborns in industrialized nations weigh 3–4 kg (7–9 lb) and stand 47–53 cm (19–21 in) tall. Low birth weight, however, is prevalent in underdeveloped nations and adds to the high rates of infant death in these areas.

Human delivery has a significantly higher risk of complications and mortality when compared to other mammals. Compared to other primates, the fetus's head and pelvis are more nearly matched in size. Though the exact cause of this is unknown, it leads to an excruciating labor that can endure for up to twenty-four hours. With the development of new medical technology over the 20th century, the likelihood of a successful labor improved dramatically in affluent nations. On the other hand, natural delivery and pregnancy continue to be dangerous experiences in underdeveloped nations, where the risk of maternal deaths is almost 100 times higher than in industrialized nations.

Unlike other primates, where the mother tends to the young primarily, humans receive care from both the mother and the father. Humans are born defenseless and develop further over the course of a few years, attaining sexual maturity between the ages of 15 and 17. There are several phases in the human life span, which vary from three to twelve. Infancy, childhood, adolescence, maturity, and old age are common phases. These phases range in duration between cultures and historical times, but they are consistently marked by an exceptionally quick growth surge in adolescence. Around the age of fifty, female humans experience menopause and become sterile. Menopause has been shown to improve a woman's chances of having children overall.

#### Diet

Due to their omnivorous nature, humans may consume a vast range of plant and animal materials. Human populations have taken up a variety of diets, from mostly carnivorous to entirely vegan. Human dietary constraints can occasionally result in deficiency disorders; yet, stable human populations have used cultural norms and genetic specialization to adapt to a variety of dietary patterns, utilizing food sources that are nutritionally balanced. Food science has evolved as a result of the human diet, which is strongly reflected in human culture.

Prior to the advent of agriculture approximately ten thousand years ago, Homo sapiens relied only on the hunter-gatherer strategy for gathering food. This included mixing wild game, which must be hunted and caught in order to be consumed, with stationary food sources including fruits, cereals, tubers, mushrooms, insect larvae, and aquatic mollusks. It has been suggested that since Homo erectus, people have cooked and prepared food using fire. The development of agriculture by humans around ten thousand years ago significantly changed their nutrition. The introduction of dairy farming, which offered a fresh and abundant food source, may have contributed to the evolution of certain individuals' capacity to digest lactose, which in turn may have changed human biology.\

Humans can often go up to eight weeks without eating, depending on the amount of body fat they have accumulated. Without water, one can only survive for a maximum of one week and often only for three or four days. According to estimates, starvation-related causes would claim the lives of 9 million people annually in 2020. Malnutrition in childhood is very widespread and adds to the burden of disease worldwide. The distribution of food throughout the world is uneven, though, and obesity rates have shot up in some human groups. This has resulted in health issues and higher death rates in a few developing and some industrialized nations. Over a billion people are fat globally, and 35 percent of Americans are obese, therefore this is being referred to as a "obesity epidemic."

#### Variety

The human species exhibits biological diversity, with differences observed worldwide in blood type, genetic disorders, cranial characteristics, facial characteristics, bodily systems, pigmentation of the eyes, hair texture and color, stature and form, and shade of skin.  In 1.4 and 1.9 meters (4 ft 7 in and 6 ft 3 in) is the average height of an adult person, however this varies greatly based on sex, ethnic origin, and familial lineages. In addition to being strongly impacted by environmental variables including nutrition, exercise, and sleep patterns, body size is partially inherited.

Geographically, human populations vary very little from one another, and what does vary mostly occurs at an individual level. A large portion of human diversity is continuous and frequently lacks distinct boundaries. Genetic evidence demonstrates that two individuals within the exact same population group are nearly as distinct from one another as two individuals from any two other population groups, regardless of how population groups are classified. The populations of dark-skinned people in South Asia, Australia, and Africa are not closely connected to one another.

Because humans are a gonochoric species, humans are classified as having two sexes. Males and females differ genetically to the greatest extent. The genetic difference between males and females is between 1% and 2%, although the nucleotide genetic variation of people of the same sex throughout worldwide populations is no larger than 0.1%–0.5%. On average, males are 15 cm (6 in) taller and 15% heavier than females. Because they have more muscle mass and bigger muscular fibers, males typically have 20–30% more lower body strength and 40–50% more upper body strength than women at the same weight. Compared to males, women often have a larger amount of body fat. The reason behind women's lighter complexion compared to men in the same demographic is that women require more vitamin D during pregnancy and nursing. Certain X and Y chromosome-related illnesses and diseases exclusively affect men or women because of the chromosomal variations between males and females. The male voice is typically an octave lower than the female voice, after accounting for body weight and loudness. In practically every population in the planet, women live longer. Although they are uncommon, intersex conditions do exist in the human population.

#### Mental Psychology

The peripheral nervous system is under the direction of the human brain, which serves as the center of the human central nervous system. Not only does it regulate "lower" order, involuntary, or mostly autonomic functions like breathing and digestion, but it also serves as the center of "higher" order functioning like thinking, reasoning, and abstraction. Psychology studies these cognitive processes, which make up the mind, and the behavioral effects they have.

Compared to other primates, humans possess a bigger and more evolved prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain linked to higher cognitive functions. Because of this, people today claim to be smarter than virtually every known animal. It's challenging to define intelligence objectively because other species have evolved senses and skills that humans do not possess.

While not entirely unique, there are several characteristics that distinguish humans from other creatures. It's possible that episodic memory and "mental time travel" are unique to humans. Humans are extraordinarily flexible in their facial expressions, even when compared to other social animals. Only humans have been seen to shed emotional tears. There is disagreement about the extent to which humans are the only creatures having a theory of mind, however one of the few animals that can self-recognize in mirror tests is the human species.

##### Sleeps and Dreams

People are typically diurnal beings. Adults need seven to nine hours of sleep each day on average, while children need nine to ten hours; older adults often need six to seven hours. Even though lack of sleep can have detrimental impacts on one's health, individuals often get less sleep than this. Research has demonstrated that limiting adult sleep duration to four hours daily is associated with physiological and psychological modifications, such as diminished memory, weariness, hostility, and physical pain.

Humans dream when they are asleep, experiencing auditory and visual visions. The pons stimulates dreaming, which typically happens during the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep. Dreams might last anything from a few seconds to thirty minutes. Most people dream three to five times a night, while other people may dream up to seven times. If awoken during the REM stage of sleep, dreamers have a higher chance of recalling their dream. Except in cases of lucid dreaming, when the dreamer is aware of themselves, most dream events are beyond of the dreamer's control. Sometimes having a dream may inspire creativity or generate new ideas.

##### Thoughts

Seen at its most basic level, human consciousness is the knowledge of one's own existence, whether internal or external. Consciousness continues to be mysterious and contentious even after decades of examinations, definitions, arguments, and discussions by philosophers and scientists. The intuition that the issue exists is the sole universally accepted idea about it. Divergent views exist on the precise nature of consciousness and what has to be investigated. Philosophers distinguish between two types of consciousness: access consciousness, which is utilized for direct action control or thinking, and phenomenal consciousness, which is the sensory experience itself. It refers to a component of the mind or is used interchangeably with "the mind" at different times. It has historically been linked to reflection, alone time, creativity, and willpower. These days, it frequently involves some form of experience, thought, emotion, or perception. It might be self-awareness, awareness of consciousness, or awareness itself. Consciousness may exist in several forms, at various orders or levels, or it may merely exist in one type with distinct characteristics.

Cognition is the process of learning and comprehending through thought, experience, and the senses. The senses allow the human brain to see the outside world, and each person's experiences have a significant impact on their perception of the world, which results in subjective beliefs about life and the passage of time. A fundamental concept in psychology and related sciences is the nature of thought. Studying cognition—the mental processes that underlie behavior—is the focus of cognitive psychology. Developmental psychology primarily studies how the human mind develops throughout the course of a person's life in order to comprehend how individuals learn to perceive, comprehend, and behave in the environment, as well as how these processes alter with age. This might be centered on the development of the mind, brain, social skills, or morality. To measure human intellect and examine its distribution across the population, psychologists have created assessments of intelligence and the notion of the intelligence quotient.

##### Emotions

The motivation of humans is still not fully understood. From a psychological standpoint, one well-known idea is Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which is the process of meeting demands in increasing complexity. A broader philosophical definition of human motivation is the dedication to, or desertion from, diverse objectives including the utilization of human potential. In addition, preferences and incentives, as well as any perceived connections between the two, are also variables. Willpower has a role in cases when volition is also involved. In an ideal world, motivation and volition work together to guarantee the best possible choices, pursuit, and accomplishment of objectives. This process of socialization starts in childhood and lasts the entirety of a person's life.

Emotions are nervous system-related biological states resulting from neurophysiological alterations linked to many aspects of mind, emotion, behavior, and level of pleasure or pain. They are frequently linked to motivation, mood, personality, temperament, and creative and dispositional traits. Emotion has a major role in shaping human behavior and learning. Studies reveal that criminals may have lesser emotional intelligence than the general population, and that acting on intense or uncontrollable emotions can result in social disorders and criminal activity.

Emotions that are viewed as unpleasant, such anxiety, melancholy, rage, and despair, contrast with emotions that are considered as pleasant, like joy, interest, or satisfaction. A human's emotional state is happiness, or the state of being happy. Happiness definitions are a popular subject in philosophy. According to certain definitions, it is the sensation of favorable emotional effects while avoiding negative ones. Some see it as a measure of life satisfaction or life quality. According to recent study, when people feel their negative feelings are justified, they may experience some of them in order to be joyful.

##### Love

In humans, sexuality refers to bodily, emotional, social, spiritual, erotic, or biological sensations and actions. It lacks a definite definition since it is a wide phrase that has changed throughout time in accordance with historical settings. The majority of the biochemical and physical components of sexuality are related to human reproductive processes, such as the cycle of sexual response. Aspects of life such as culture, politics, law, philosophy, morality, ethics, and religion both influence and are influenced by sexuality. Libido, often known as sexual desire, is the primary mental state that precedes sexual conduct.

Although the majority of persons identify as heterosexual, they can fall anywhere on a continuous sexual orientation continuum. As of now, only domestic sheep and humans have been discovered to exclusively choose same-sex partnerships, despite the fact that gay behavior is seen in several other animals. The majority of the data points to nonsocial, biological explanations for sexual orientation, as societies that greatly tolerate homosexuality do not exhibit much greater prevalence of homosexuality. There may be biological influences on other facets of human sexuality as well, according to research in neurology and genetics.

Most often, the term "love" describes an intense emotional bond or strong desire. It might be both interpersonal and impersonal. Dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, and other neurotransmitters activate the pleasure region of the brain when one is in love, which can cause side effects including a racing heartbeat, difficulty sleeping or eating, and a heightened sense of excitement.

#### Culture

One of the main contributing factors to humanity's eventual technological progress and subsequent control of the biosphere was its unparalleled intellectual capacity. Humans are the only species that can impart generalizable knowledge, use recursive embedding to produce and express complex concepts naturally, participate in the "folk physics" necessary for skillful tool building, and prepare meals in the wild—barring extinct hominids. Human cultures' cultural and ethnographic identities are preserved via education. Other largely human-only characteristics and actions include voice learning, phoneme structure, and lighting fires.

##### Language

Even while many creatures are able to communicate, language is exclusive to humans, one of our greatest cultural traits, and a universal human trait. Human language is open, in contrast to the closed systems of other animals; a finite set of symbols may be combined to create an unlimited variety of meanings. Human language may also displace objects by employing words to describe events and situations that do not now or locally exist but instead exist in the shared imaginations of others with whom one is speaking.

Language is modality independent, meaning that the same meanings may be expressed visually via writing or sign language, audibly through speech, and tactilely through braille. This sets language apart from other kinds of communication. Human communication depends on language, as does the feeling of identity that binds nations, civilizations, and ethnic groups together. With sign languages included, there are now about 6,000 distinct languages in existence, and many more that have been extinct.

##### Art

There are many different types of human arts, such as performing, writing, and visual arts. Paintings, sculptures, films, interactive designs, and architectural designs are examples of visual art. Prose, poetry, and plays are examples of literary arts; theater, music, and dance are examples of performing arts. People frequently mix and match the various forms. Cooking, video games, and medicine are among other things that have been characterized as creative. The arts serve political functions in addition to amusement and information transfer.

One thing that sets humans apart from other species is their artistic ability, and there is evidence linking language with creativity. Before modern humans developed by 300,000 years, Homo erectus produced engravings on shells, which are the earliest known examples of art. Jewelry and paintings discovered in South African caves date the existence of art ascribed to Homo humans to at least 75,000 years ago. The reasons why people have adapted to the arts are the subject of several theories. These include enhancing their ability to solve problems more effectively, giving them the ability to manipulate or dominate other people, promoting collaboration and social responsibility within a community, or raising their chances of drawing in a possible partner. Combining reasoning with the imaginative skills acquired via art may have provided early humans with an evolutionary edge.

Cave paintings provide evidence of ancient musical activity, and almost all known human societies still perform music today. There are many different musical genres and ethnic musics, and musical aptitude in humans is linked to other aptitudes including sophisticated social behavior. Research has demonstrated that listening to music causes the human brain to entrain, or get in sync with, the beat and rhythm. All civilizations use dance as a means of human expression.  and could have developed to facilitate communication among early humans. The orbitofrontal cortex and other pleasure-sensing brain regions are stimulated by dancing and music.

In contrast to speaking, reading and writing are skills that humans need to learn. Even yet, literature predates the development of words and language; 30,000-year-old drawings found within some caves depict a variety of dramatic scenarios. The Epic of Gilgamesh, which was originally inscribed around 4,000 years ago on ancient Babylonian tablets, is among the oldest pieces of literature still in existence. In addition to merely imparting knowledge, the usage and sharing of creative fiction through stories may have aided in the communicative development of humans and raised the probability of finding a partner. Moral teachings and collaboration may also be instilled in the audience through storytelling.

##### Technology

Protohumans utilized stone tools at least 2.5 million years ago. The capacity to make and utilize tools has been proposed as the quality that most distinguishes humans, and it has long been considered a significant evolutionary development. The regulated use of fire started around 1 million years ago, and about 1.8 million years ago, technology became considerably more advanced. Around the fourth millennium BC, the wheel and wheeled vehicles concurrently appeared in many locations. The cultivation of land and the domestication of animals were made possible by the advancement of more sophisticated tools and technologies, which were crucial to the Neolithic Revolution—the period of agricultural progress.

Among its many notable innovations are the compass, gunpowder, paper, printing press, and others that came from China. Steel, which is used in skyscrapers and railroads among many other goods, was finally forged from copper, bronze, iron, and eventually iron thanks to further advancements in smelting. This occurred at the same time as the Industrial Revolution, when the development of automated machinery significantly altered human lifestyles. The field of modern technology is known for its exponential advancement. Notable inventions from the 20th century include the following: electricity, penicillin, semiconductors, internal combustion engines, Internet, nitrogen-fixing fertilizers, airplanes, computers, cars, nuclear fission, green revolution, radio, scientific breeding of plants, rockets, air conditioning, television, and assembly lines.

##### Religion

A belief system about the supernatural, holy, or divine, along with the customs, institutions, values, and activities that support it, are collectively referred to as religion. A moral code is also found in several faiths. Scientific research is now being conducted in the domains of early religion evolution and history. Although the precise moment of human religious development is still unknown, research demonstrates reliable indications of religious behavior dating back to the Middle Paleolithic.It could have developed in order to support and promote human collaboration.

The notion of religion as defined by academics is unaccepted. Since the world is diverse in terms of geography, social structure, and language, religion has taken on a multitude of forms that differ according to culture and personal viewpoint. Beliefs in the afterlife, the genesis of life, the nature of the cosmos and its ultimate destiny, and what is morally just or wrong are all examples of religion. Though not all faiths are theistic, beliefs in transcending supernatural entities like deities or a single God are a popular source for solutions to these issues.

Most people claim to be religious or spiritual, even though it can be difficult to gauge someone's precise level of religiosity. Christians made up the majority in 2015, followed by Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. In 2015, 16% of the world's population—just under 1.2 billion people—identified as irreligious, which included those who had neither religious affiliation nor beliefs.

##### Science

Humans are special in that they can pass on information from one generation to the next and continuously improve it to create tools, scientific laws, and other advancements that will benefit future generations. The accumulation of this information has greatly aided in the advancement of human civilization and may be used to test hypotheses or provide answers to concerns about how the universe works.

Some have claimed that Aristotle was the first scientist, existing before the Hellenistic era saw the development of scientific ideas. During the Islamic Golden Era and the Han Dynasty in China, there were more early scientific advancements. Modern science emerged as a result of the scientific revolution that occurred at the conclusion of the Renaissance.

The scientific method—a sequence of events and effects that involves testing and observation—was developed to set science apart from pseudoscience. While several animal species possess some number awareness, only humans possess a mathematical comprehension. The three main branches of science are the formal sciences, which study formal systems; the applied sciences, which concentrate on real-world applications; and the empirical sciences, which build on empirical observation and are further subdivided into the social and natural sciences.

Humans study philosophy in order to get a basic understanding of both themselves and the world they live in. Philosophical investigation has played a significant role in the evolution of human cognition. It's been called the "no man's land" between the final results of science and the infallible doctrines of religion. Unlike religion, philosophy is based on reason and evidence, but it is not dependent on the actual observations and experiments that science provides. Axiology, logic, epistemology, and metaphysics are important areas of philosophy.

#### Society

The system of institutions and organizations that result from human contact is called society. Due to their strong social nature, humans typically reside in big, intricate social groupings. Depending on their wealth, power, reputation, income, and other characteristics, they can be categorized into several categories. Particularly between contemporary and traditional civilizations, there are differences in the degree of social mobility and the structure of social stratification. Human groupings vary in size from families to whole nations. Hunter-gatherer band societies are regarded to have been the model for the first human social structure.

##### Gender

Human civilizations usually display distinct gender identities and gender roles that delineate what traits are considered masculine and feminine, as well as the spectrum of acceptable behaviors and attitudes for its members according to their sex. An easy way to categorize things is to think of men and women as opposites. Third genders, or less frequently fourth or fifth genders, are acknowledged in several countries. Non-binary is a phrase used to refer to a variety of gender identities that are not exclusively male or female in certain other countries.

In most civilizations, both modern and ancient, males have had greater rights and benefits than women. Gender roles are generally linked to divisions in norms, customs, attire, behavior, rights, obligations, privileges, prestige, and power. Gender roles are social constructs that are not set and can change over time within a community. In many civilizations, challenges to the prevalent gender norms have resurfaced. The gender roles of the earliest human cultures are little understood. At least in the Upper Paleolithic, early modern humans most likely shared a range of gender roles with contemporary civilizations, but Neanderthals were less sexually dimorphic and there is evidence that the behavioral differences between males and females were negligible.

##### Relations

All human communities use marriage to organize, identify, and categorize different kinds of social connections, as well as interactions between parents, children, and other descendants. A third kind is also used with godparents or adopted kids. Kinship is the term used to describe these culturally defined connections. It functions as a means of passing on rank and inheritance and is one of the most significant social structuring elements in many countries. Every society has laws against incest taboos, which forbid marriages between specific kin relationships, and some also have laws against preferred marriages with specific kin relationships.

##### Ethnicity

Ethnic groups in humans are social categories that identify as such because they have common characteristics that set them apart from other groups. They may share customs, ancestry, language, history, nation, culture, religion, or social treatment in their local community. Although both are social constructs, ethnicity and race are distinct ideas that are based on physical attributes. It can be difficult to assign ethnicity to a given population since, even within widely accepted ethnic categories, there may be a wide variety of subgroups, and these groupings' collective and individual compositions may alter over time. Furthermore, the concept of an ethnic group is not widely agreed upon.

##### Rulings and Governments

Relationships between these various groups grew as farming people collected in denser, bigger groupings. As a result, government both inside and between the groups developed. Humans have acquired the capacity to switch very quickly between membership in different social groupings, even those that were once closely aligned politically, if doing so is thought to offer advantages to the individual. Individuals can alter their political beliefs due to cognitive flexibility; individuals who are more flexible are less likely to endorse authoritarian and nationalistic viewpoints.

Laws and policies made by governments have an impact on the people they are in charge of. Throughout human history, there have been several systems of government, each with a different way to seize power and the capacity to impose different kinds of restrictions on the populace. In 2017, the majority of national governments worldwide were comprised of democracies, with 13% being autocracies and 28% having a combination of both. International political groups and alliances have been founded by several nations; the greatest of them is the United Nations, which has 193 member states.

###### Economy

One of the things that is thought to set humans apart from other animals is trade, or the voluntary exchange of goods and services. It has been suggested that trade provided Homo sapiens with a significant edge over other hominids. There is evidence that early Homo sapiens used long-distance trading channels to exchange products and ideas, which resulted in cultural booms and provided extra food sources at times when hunting was scarce. In contrast, the now-extinct Neanderthals did not have access to such trade networks. The materials used to make tools like obsidian were probably traded in the early days. During the Roman and medieval eras, the spice trade became the foundation of the first genuinely global trading routes.

Gift-giving was more likely to form the foundation of early human economies than trading. Cowrie shells were the most often utilized commodity in the early days of money, with cattle being the oldest. Since then, money has changed to include paper money, coins issued by governments, and electronic money. The social science of human study of economics examines how societies allocate limited resources among many individuals. The wealthiest eight people on the planet are worth the same in money as the poorest half of all people, demonstrating the extreme inequality in the distribution of wealth among humankind.

##### Conflict

whereas the incidence of violence committed by humans against other humans is similar to that of other primates, humans have a greater inclination to murder adults, whereas infanticide is more prevalent among other primates. It is estimated that two percent of early Homo sapiens would be killed; this would rise to 12% in the Middle Ages and then fall to 2% in the present day. There is a significant difference in the rates of violence across human groups; in countries with robust legal frameworks and strong cultural norms against violence, the rate of homicide is about 0.01%.

It has long been disputed whether or not humans are willing to commit mass murder during organized confrontation with other members of their species. According to one school of thinking, conflict has always been a natural human trait and emerged as a strategy to eradicate rivals. Another contends that the emergence of war as a comparatively modern event is attributable to shifting societal dynamics. Warlike predispositions only became prevalent approximately 10,000 years ago, and in many locations much more recently than that, according to current data, though this is still up for debate. The cost of war has been enormous: between 167 million and 188 million people are thought to have perished as a result of conflict in the 20th century.

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