At 18:16 30/04/97 -0400, you wrote:
>On Wed, 30 Apr 1997, Mike Sheehan, The Everett Citizen wrote:
>
>> In a message dated 97-04-29 14:31:24 EDT, you write:
>>
>> << First, I feel that homo sapiens is the only species on earth whose
>>  ability to live is primarily conceptual rather than genetic. By this
>>  I mean that human adaptive systems are learned rather than
>>  genetically stored. This gives an enormous amount of adaptive
>>  flexibility to this particular species. A deer must grow a coat of
>>  fur for protection vs the cold; the human can learn to make a coat,
>>  to make a house, to make fire. An animal will die if its food (green
>>  herbiage in this instance) are not available; the human can movE>
another area (let's say, to a rainforest - where that deer's hooves
>>  would never survive the moisture) - and above all, the human can
>>  develop artifacts, technology - to change their interactions with the
>>  envt and so create food. >>
>>
>> A hermit crab dons an artificial coat made from another animal.  Swifts and
>> other birds build incredible and unduplicable houses.  Great herds of grazing
>> animals migrate to find food.  Chimpanzees learn to make and use tools
>> (termite rods) and teach their children the art.  I think we can get caught
>> up in our self important arrogance and ignore the fact that we are animals
>> and nothing more.  We can conceive of this idea (that we are animals and
>> nothing more), and maybe THAT is the only thing that separates us from other
>> animals.  We can recognize that we are animals and make choices based on our
>> intellect instead of our instincts.  But even that (our intellect) is
>> inherited genetically!
>>
>I think our distinctiveness is due to our unmatched ability to
>share (communicate) complex thought processes with each other. (HOW
ANIMALISTIC! - Michael Coghlan.)
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