Or are we merely biological/neural/chemical computers, protected by a shell of bone all around us and equipped with various biological systems to ensure our survival? [ 05-23-2002: Message edited by: Kennatsu ]
Well, most of us anyways.
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There was much rejoicing when Ferret said this:
I always figured we were humans.Well, most of us anyways.
True, but my question is saying "What are Humans?" 
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Kennatsu had this to say about Knight Rider:
True, but my question is saying "What are Humans?"
A better question is, why would that matter?
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This one time, at Kennatsu camp:
True, but my question is saying "What are Humans?"
Best definition I've ever heard is earth's most adaptable living weapon.
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Kennatsu thought about the meaning of life:
"What are Humans?"
The first REAL Philisophical question I've seen on this board.
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Densetsu had this to say about Jimmy Carter:
The first REAL Philisophical question I've seen on this board.
That's selling short quite a few questions imo 
You can break down a human body into what.. 3 bucks or so worth of chemicals? Says a lot about how much we value the universe, eh?
I make no sense when I'm tired.
Life is emergent in the universe. Or its very, very, VERY unique. Either way, our mind's capacity to wonder about the universe, and the ability to understand the universe, or fractions upon fractions thereof, says a lot as to what we are.
My head hurts.
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Maradön? obviously shouldn't have said:
That's selling short quite a few questions imo
Not at all.
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A sleep deprived Delphi Aegis stammered:
Life is emergent in the universe. Or its very, very, VERY unique. Either way, our mind's capacity to wonder about the universe, and the ability to understand the universe, or fractions upon fractions thereof, says a lot as to what we are.
Again I ask, why would that matter?
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Densetsu got all f'ed up on Angel Dust and wrote:
Not at all.
Your shortsighted opinion is noted
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And I was all like 'Oh yeah?' and Maradön? was all like:
Your shortsighted opinion is noted
I forgot that you were the authority on Philosophy.
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Densetsu had this to say about Tron:
I forgot that you were the authority on Philosophy.
Likewise. [ 05-23-2002: Message edited by: Maradön? ]
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A sleep deprived Kennatsu stammered:
"What are Humans?"
A body is just flesh. If you got your hand cut off, would you be someone else? No, you would still be you, just with a new experience to learn from. If you woke up tomorrow and found yourself turned into a lion, would you still be you? Once again, yes. While flesh may help to shape the human you are, it is not what makes you human.
Is it the soul? No, but it's close. Many things can be said to have at least a limited form of a soul. Human souls may be different, but that's just a side effect of what makes us human.
Is it the mind? Yes. While the brain made of flesh and the emptyness of the soul may give rise to the human mind, it is the mind itself that truely makes us human. It is the mind that wields the flesh, no matter the shape of it. It is the mind that fills the soul with hopes and fears and the dreams of stars.
Break my flesh, and I can still be a great man. Steven Hawkings is proof of that.
Break my soul, and I can still make my mark in history. Edgar Alan Poe is proof of that.
Break my mind, and I am no more. All that will be left is a shell, devoid of that which was once me.
[ 05-23-2002: Message edited by: Maradön? ]
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Maradön? obviously shouldn't have said:
The existence of a "soul" in the romantic sense is still a theory, and really more of a superstition.
For the sake of this discussion, it's real enough I think.
Clearly if someone gives you sodium pentathol or whatever, your inhibitions drop and you're more apt to suggestion. Hunger is a demand from the body. The body makes a lot of them. If it's not hungry, it's thirsty. If it's not hungry or thirsty, it's tired. If it's not hungry, thirsty, or tired, it's bored and gets fidgety. Physical chemical imbalances can affect perception, or make a person behave oddly.
So before you go with any separation of soul and body, you have to allow for the reality that you're either 1. going to have to make a clear divider line between the two, and be ready to explain why it's a divider, or 2. accept that the entity in question is in fact one lump sum human being. Indivisable within itself.
Depending on your answer there you could come up with any number of little notions about what a human is. HOW you define something also affects what's defined. If you define us by the traits of our growth, we're actually rather similar to hyper-advanced viri. Define us by our biological systems and we're a sort of large nearly hairless ape with unprecedented intelligence.
Plus the person themself would modify the issue. A nihilistic physicist might point out that all life, including humans are nothing more than a clever counter-equation which seeks to delay the effects of entropy by prolonging its own existence in clever and ultimately meaningless ways that actually do more to accelerate entropy than to stop it.
Or you could skip trying to think up any ground rules at all and have a free for all opinion session.
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
Remember what happened while you were under?
What if death is like that?
I don't think it really matters what we "are." No matter what we happen to be it's not worth thinking about because it changes absolutely nothing.
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There was much rejoicing when Suddar Williams said this:
You ask too many questions.I don't think it really matters what we "are." No matter what we happen to be it's not worth thinking about because it changes absolutely nothing.
in the long run, nothing changes. we all die.
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Kennatsu was listening to Cher while typing:
I'd like to think that when we die, our memories will die with our body... but the essence of life; the very thing that allows us to be sentient... basically just energy... well, it leaves the body and waits 'til it has the chance to give life to a newly concieved living thing. I like to think that life energy is recycled...
Mako energy!!!
hehehehe...
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
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From the book of Ja'Deth Issar Ka'bael, chapter 3, verse 16:
Then some corporation comes along and rams a siphon into your stream and it reeeeeeeeeeeallly reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally sucks. And not in a good way.hehehehe...
Would that corporation happen to be Hoover Vaccums?
