>gordon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>On Thu, 23 Mar 2000, ardeith l carter wrote:
>  > OK....point taken......and I'm operating from what may be a
> > false assumption......I'm assuming Gordon is referring to
> > human life as more "advanced" than other lifeforms...such
> > as earth worms and/or bacteria................................
>
>Yes, ardeith, I do believe we humans are more advanced lifeforms than earth
>worms and bacteria. We are more advanced than these lifeforms by almost
>every important measure imaginable.
>...
>Look into your eyes in the mirror, ardeith and Lois, and think hard. Look
>into your eyes and think hard about the fact that you can look into your own
>eyes and think hard, but that the ameoba has no eyes and cannot think at
>all.
>
>If you do the above and then still wish to pursue your arguments that you
>are no more advanced than ameobas then I promise that I will happily concede
>the point to you.


ROTFL!  Snort snort.

Or look it at this way:  Sure, a deer can outrun a human.  So you could say
that the deer is a more advanced runner.  But the deer sure as hell hasn't
painted a Mona Lisa or written a symphony or built the tallest building in
the world or performed open heart surgery, etc.

I don't understand this entire discussion.  Why can't people just face the
fact that human beings are able to think and reason while other life forms
aren't?  Because of this, humans have achieved lots more than amoebas (and
I would certainly think they enjoy their existence much more, although I
admit I've never actually been an amoeba...).

Animals act merely from instinct.   A squirrel doesn't get up and think,
"Now what can I do today to make my life happy and fulfilling?"  He gets
up, urinates, defecates, and hunts for food because that is what he is
programmed to do.  There's no allowance in his programming for the
opportunity to ponder the meaning of life or write Moby Dick.  It just
ain't so.  Deal with it.

I'll go one step more.  I'll say we're not just more advanced, but we ARE
superior.  At least to any life form I've seen yet.


--Dena