What is fundamentally human?
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Space exploration. Flight without biological wings.
Curiousity.
Fashion.
Money(sadly).
Possession.
Entertainment.
Virtual reality, hyperreality.
Architecture.
Instruments.
Do things which were considered magic.
Religion.
Art.
Backing up data.
To record.
Spreadsheets.
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My issue with this is that these aren't fundamental. Early humans lived just fine without any of these things.
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I get what you mean but i wouldn't say any... I guess it also depends on what you mean by early, like classical or pre wheel?
A lot of thing found in humans which we may consider as fundamental can be argued to be present in other animals...
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but i think what differentiates us are higher abstraction layers of the same things.
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Take curiousity for example, sure it can be observed in other animals but humans no matter how classical or modern extend that curiousity to realm that we our selfs couldnt have even imagined to begin with same could be said about exploration.
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Non linear positive progression as individuals and as a species beyond survival is i as far as we know fundamental to humans. You cannot discount craftsmanship, abstraction and spread sheets god damn it. No squirrel ever made a forecast of how many nuts it will acquire ever.
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I think what makes this question tough is that we have to make assumptions about what it is asking. It could be interpreted as "What differentiates the human species from animals?" .. Or it could be interpreted as "what characteristics are fundamental to ALL humans ever?"
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It could further be interpreted to mean both: "What characteristics are fundamental to all humans across time and space, which also differentiates them from other creatures?"
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Depending in how we interpret this, our answers will vary. The fact that some humans explore and make spreadsheets, does not necessarily mean that this is a fundamental part of the human experience. If you don't do these things in your life time, are you no longer human?
But the fact that some of us do these things, might indicate a more fundamental characteristic that we all possess. I think this is the heart of the question. What is it that drives us to explore and make spreadsheets? What does all of this condense down ultimately?
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I fully agree, its like the underlying meaning... It could be as simple as finding meaning. So put in different words, it is fundamentally human to seek meaning in everything and not just that go far and beyond to find that mean.
I think also the "why" question bugs us all.
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