Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can we all agree that 'human' should be defined as all members of the genus Homo ?
No
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Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
121–130 of 274 posts
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it? This is literally the first time Ive seen the word human applied to other hominids. I see many discussions about neanderthals and denisovians and so on. I have never seen them referred to as human.
I think it’s not uncommon to refer to Neanderthals as early humans, I’m sure I’ve read that in many places. Natural history museum, for example, refers to them as early humans: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/who-were-the-neanderthals.htm...
It is also reasonable to argue that they and we are subspecies of the same species not rather than separate species.
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
The word human is commonly used for both modern humans and members of the entire genus Homo. Hominids is a more general superset that isn't strictly correct here. The term hominin is more appropriate in this context and what they actually use in the abstract. In my opinion though, "human" is the better word here for conveying the right mix of informality without implying the specific semantics of "Hominini sans Pan".
Is it? This is literally the first time Ive seen the word human applied to other hominids. I see many discussions about neanderthals and denisovians and so on. I have never seen them referred to as human.
I can't speak to what you have or haven't seen before, but yes it's quite common as informal language among anthropologists with particular kinds of views. Sometimes people will use "modern humans" or "archaic humans" or some other variation to differentiate, but not always and it's usually pretty clear from context regardless.
This is just one of many examples of definitions being extremely unstandardized in human evolution. You get used to it after awhile.
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
The word human is commonly used for both modern humans and members of the entire genus Homo. Hominids is a more general superset that isn't strictly correct here. The term hominin is more appropriate in this context and what they actually use in the abstract. In my opinion though, "human" is the better word here for conveying the right mix of informality without implying the specific semantics of "Hominini sans Pan".
Is it? This is literally the first time Ive seen the word human applied to other hominids. I see many discussions about neanderthals and denisovians and so on. I have never seen them referred to as human.
> I have never seen them referred to as human.
I have never seen anything else. But then in French, they are called Neandertal men and Denisova men. So pretty clearly humans.
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed, there are two types of people in that regard, whose mind is blown (usually) that there is another type. One thinks in words, one has no words but a smooth stream of thought going.
> Indeed, there are two types of people in that regard > One thinks in words No. There are people who believe they think in words, because they haven't bothered to examine the question, but there are no people who think in words. Think about the number of people you've ever seen do a double take at the idea that "I don't know how to put this into words".
Why is it so hard to accept that different people can have a different internal experience of our shared reality? Perhaps different people have conscious awareness of different aspects of their own cognition pipelines though the pipeline is similar for most people, or perhaps there is a more fundamental diversity in how different people think.
I find it interesting though how strong an aversion some have to being told what's going on in their own heads.
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's culture, and it's known to exist among animals in a limited way. We don't really know what the upper bound for non humans is, because we don't know exactly what's being communicated by, for example, whale song.
I wonder whether we (as human) are merely the first species that managed to overcome initial barriers to developing culture and tech and thereby preventing any other species to do the same (for now). It feels like bipedalism, opposable thumbs and strong social behaviour and other factores were the perfect storm at the perfect time.
Other species have culture (behavioural traits/patterns and social organisation/cues that are communicated, not innately inherited via genes and development), and other species have tech (making intentional modifications to their environment, creating structures that better support their existence).
What seems to be rare is the ability to use culture a medium to store and transmit tech.
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
Quite a lot of humans don't think in language, or do only some of the time, see e.g. https://www.iflscience.com/people-with-no-internal-monologue... , https://www.livescience.com/does-everyone-have-inner-monolog... , https://www.bustle.com/wellness/does-everyone-have-an-intern... .
There are also humans who can’t conjure up an image in their head. Mozilla cofounder wrote a fairly famous piece about his own experience. https://www.theverge.com/2016/4/25/11501230/blake-ross-cant-... If there are people who can’t picture and people who don’t have an inner dialogue, I think it lends more credence to the idea that we don’t have free will and are just a bunch of chemicals controlling our behavior. It…
What even is "free will"? It's an idea that falls apart on close inspection.
You think "I will wash the dishes". You wash the dishes. Ta-daa, free will!
A paralyzed person thinks "I will raise my hand". Nothing happens. No free will!
An ADHD person says to themself "I will wash the dishes". They don't get washed. A different part is broken than to the paralyzed person, but the result is the same.
A lazy person says to their roommate "I refuse to wash the dishes". Free will? They "could", if they were not lazy. Just as the ADHD person "could" if they did not have executive dysfunction. Just as the paralyzed person "could" if their spinal cord were intact.
"Free will", as a philosophical construct, is nothing more than an attempt by the ego to regain a sense of control in the face of the irrefutable realization that the universe is governed by rigid laws, and we are made of universe. (And no, quantum randomness doesn't help you - a random choice is hardly more of an extension of will than a deterministic one).
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's culture, and it's known to exist among animals in a limited way. We don't really know what the upper bound for non humans is, because we don't know exactly what's being communicated by, for example, whale song.
I wonder whether we (as human) are merely the first species that managed to overcome initial barriers to developing culture and tech and thereby preventing any other species to do the same (for now). It feels like bipedalism, opposable thumbs and strong social behaviour and other factores were the perfect storm at the perfect time.
the same thing probably happened early on, chemical evolution may have thrown up multiple replicators, but our ancestors had some small edge which allowed them to literally eat the competition.
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#129It’s fascinating to think about the number of PUs (procedural units) it takes to make a modern tool. Something as simple as a modern hammer must number in the thousands and a mobile phone in the millions or billions.
Billions of transistors in a smart phone, and those took many^many machines to build
The factories that build them is like something out of a sci-fi film. Quite mind blowing.
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
That idea is pretty similar to "assembly theory" no? In the sense of how much information or evolution was necessary to generate some artifact, be it a benzene molecule, a stone tool, or an iphone
It took humans 300k years, all of us, our collective output to reach this point. Yet people insist on comparing a human who is part of society with a LLM alone, who doesn't even have search, and very limited contexts, just closed book mode remembering.
Wrong thread, perhaps?