what sets humans apart from other species
The critical element that culturally sets humans apart from other species is the functional superiority of the human brain. That existing human culture has three axial components, namely politics, religion, and technology, which influence the affairs of mankind, must be obvious to all with a passing interest in human behaviour.
Adapted from The Gap: The Science of What Separates Us From Other Animals by Thomas Suddendorf, out now from Basic Books. Like many a scholar before and since, Bertrand Russell confidently asserts that certain traitsâspeech, fire, agriculture, writing, tools, and large-scale cooperationâset humans apart from animals. Although we appear to excel in many domains, such claims are not typically founded in any thorough comparison.
The frontal lobe is what really sets us apart from animals, which controls one important aspect of humans: Self awareness. The thinking in terms of I am.. Animals don't do that. (although they DO have sex for pleasure.