Are humans superior to animals? Do you think human superiority over animals in certain domains justifies the way we treat them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People want to believe that they are fundamentally superior to animals and that this superiority justifies our dominance over and our treatment of animals. There are three main factors for this justification: our soul, consciousness, and self-awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keep reading for more about the alleged superiority of humans over animals and the real reason humans dominate the earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
While there are imbalances between different races, ethnicities, and cultures, people typically believe that human life is superior and more sacred than animal life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, an American citizen may have better access to healthcare, education, and civil liberties than an Afghani citizen, but this doesn\u2019t mean that the American life is more valuable than the Afghani life. However, compare a human\u2019s life to the life of a cow, and most people would argue that the human\u2019s life is more valuable than the cow\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout history, people have pointed to three differentiating reasons for human superiority over animals: our soul, consciousness, and self-awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most theistic religions point to a God-given soul as the justification for human superiority, giving people the freedom to abuse and slaughter animals for their own gain<\/strong>. However, despite searching extensively, modern science has found no evidence that people have a soul. In fact, theories such as Darwin\u2019s theory of evolution<\/a> directly contest its existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While theists believe that the soul is an independent entity that hasn\u2019t changed throughout the course of human history, evolution implies that humans are changing all the time and aren\u2019t capable of eternal characteristics. They\u2019re made up of ever-evolving parts that interconnect with the rest of the body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, the human eye consists of dozens of separate, intricate parts that have developed over thousands of years. Each part can be traced back through time to create an idea of how the eyeball evolved. The development of the eye can also, then, be connected to the evolution of the human body and the way that human senses have changed throughout history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the soul has no parts, isn\u2019t connected to the physical body, and doesn\u2019t change, it didn\u2019t develop as a result of human evolution<\/a>. <\/strong>Therefore, the likelihood of its existence is slim to none. <\/strong>Some claim that the human soul just \u201cappeared\u201d one day, but that creates a litany of other questions: <\/p>\n\n\n\n If they assume the soul is non-existent, people will then use consciousness as their justification for human superiority. <\/strong>Consciousness is the combination of thoughts, emotions, and sensations that create subjective experience. For example, if you watch someone trip and fall, you may feel concern for the person\u2019s safety while another observer may find the situation humorous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is<\/em> evidence that consciousness, unlike the soul, exists. Everyone has active thoughts, feels emotion, and experiences sensations. For example, if you step on a nail, you\u2019ll likely feel pain along with shock, frustration, or anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are two fundamental characteristics of consciousness: sensation and desire. <\/strong>Robots and computers carry out complex tasks but feel no sensations or cravings. Therefore, they don\u2019t possess consciousness, which allows people to feel superior. However, unlike computers, animals do <\/em>feel sensations and cravings similarly to humans. People know this but justify their dominance by claiming that animals experience a \u201clesser\u201d consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dating back to the 17th century, people have claimed that animals experience the world in a purely instinctual way. According to this argument, animals lack subjective experiences and, therefore, possess an inferior consciousness. Though this theory is popular, there is little evidence to support it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In reality, scientists know little about consciousness, human or otherwise. <\/strong>Modern science suggests that consciousness is likely the result of electro-chemical reactions in the brain, but no one knows for sure how this translates into subjective experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some claim that, if consciousness can\u2019t be explained, then perhaps the concept of consciousness needs to be discarded. However, this perspective ignores the validity of subjective experiences. For example, if someone\u2019s assaulted, they\u2019re going to have an emotional and subjective response to their experience. Negating consciousness as a whole denies their experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most popular theory of the 21st century states that, while consciousness has moral and social importance, it\u2019s likely just the byproduct of neural processes of the brain. <\/strong>Essentially, this equates consciousness to mental pollution. While this is a vague and poorly fleshed-out theory, it\u2019s the best scientists have been able to come up with in the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People have no way of knowing how consciousness is created or if artificial intelligence will one day gain the power of consciousness. <\/strong>After all, if consciousness is truly the byproduct of neural pathways and electric currents in the brain, what\u2019s stopping the same development from occurring with wiring and circuit boards?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the 20th century, computer scientist Alan Turing developed a test to determine whether a computer was sentient, which he called the \u201cTuring Test.\u201d In the Turing Test, a subject talks with both a computer and a person. According to Turing, if the subject can\u2019t determine which is the person and which is the computer, then the computer should be considered sentient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though humans often claim to possess higher brain functionality, human and non-human animal brains function in a similar way. <\/strong>In fact, many animals such as dogs and cats can pass a modified version of the Turing Test. While this doesn\u2019t prove consciousness, it strongly suggests that animals likely experience consciousness in a similar way to humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Industries such as the agricultural industry reject this claim. <\/strong>By maintaining that animals don\u2019t possess consciousness, they can continue to disregard the emotional and social needs of their livestock. For example, if a cow isn\u2019t conscious of its surroundings, a farmer can argue that keeping it in a narrow stall isn\u2019t cruel because the animal will have no emotional response to its experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Other industries such as the pharmaceutical industry accept this claim but not for the animal\u2019s benefit.<\/strong> They use the premise that animals share similar brain patterns<\/a> to humans to experiment on them before moving to human trials, conducting tests that would be seen as \u201cunethical\u201d if performed on people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, researchers once placed rats in a water-filled beaker one-by-one. They\u2019d watch them struggle to get out until they eventually stopped trying. However, with some of the rats, they took them out of the water before the threshold at which other rats gave up. They then dried them off and fed them before placing them back in the water. These rats struggled slightly longer on their second plunge. Researchers believed that this was because they felt hope, and they wanted to use the chemicals in the rat\u2019s brain to create a potential antidepressant for humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Assuming that animals possess consciousness, people will then refer to self-awareness as their justification for superiority. <\/strong>Self-awareness is the ability to think about one\u2019s past and future, then communicate those thoughts to others. Many claim that animals lack self-awareness because they always exist in the present, reacting instinctively to the world around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, a young squirrel will bury nuts even if it’s never experienced a winter before. Researchers claim that this is because it’s responding to an internal instinct rather than actively planning for the future<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Human Consciousness<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Human Consciousness Versus Computer Consciousness<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Human Consciousness Versus Animal Consciousness <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The Human Self-Awareness<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n