The Greatest Human Accomplishment

[Sophus]

The title and details have all left my mind, but I read part of an interesting article recently that said something along the lines of, "humans are all too quick to deem chimpanzees, among other animals, of far less intelligence. They'll say things like, 'can a chimp design or build an automobile?' Well, can you or I design or build an automobile, alone? Without learning anything via communication? All other 'great human accomplishments' are only made possible by language. This alone is the greatest human accomplishment." (That's not at all verbatim, but it delivers the crux sufficiently. If anybody knows what this article is I would love.)

At this, I couldn't help but agree. Indeed humans do have the largest EQ, which does make us the most intelligent mammal. But just how great is our EQ compared to other competitors, such as dolphins? What if their brains are capable of more complex forms of communication than they are capable of now? If we hadn't developed the necessary traits, to attain versatile voices and hands to write, the human race would be, still the most clever, but much less impressive.

Another question is how did we achieve this great accomplishment. From what I've read of feral children, all potential language skills are lost by the time they are discovered. On the other hand, they were still children whose low attention span may have caused the attempts at teaching to go in vain. Perhaps an adult could learn to name things and actions? Especially if that adult had grown up in a community of its own species!

[i_am_i]

What in the pissing universe are you talking about?

[Heretical Rants]

I agree entirely.

Dawkins once said, "You could give Aristotle a tutorial. And you could thrill him to the core of his being ... Such is the privilege of living after Newton, Darwin, Einstein, Planck, Watson, Crick and their colleagues. "

[elliebean]

I've often wondered the same thing.

[karadan]

Indeed. If language is our greatest accomplishment then the tool is our greatest invention - without which we will never have realised the ideas communication brought about.

I wonder which developed first.

Great topic.

[Sophus]

Indeed. If language is our greatest accomplishment then the tool is our greatest invention - without which we will never have realised the ideas communication brought about.

I wonder which developed first.

I'm going to guess that in most cases the spoken word came about first, considering that there haven been "languages" with no literature.

[karadan]

Indeed. If language is our greatest accomplishment then the tool is our greatest invention - without which we will never have realised the ideas communication brought about.

I wonder which developed first.

I'm going to guess that in most cases the spoken word came about first, considering that there haven been "languages" with no literature.

Plenty of animals use various tools without the need for structured language. Maybe both evolved simultaneously in humans.

[Kylyssa]

I would say written language, a side effect of agriculture, is our greatest accomplishment.  Agriculture created an extended idea of property and ownership (and the idea that land could be owned) and required that some means of recording who owns what be developed.

For all we know, dolphins may have a complex language and reasoning ability but their inability to manipulate their surroundings leaves no evidence of such an ability.

[Tank]

So the synthesis of your OP is that the effective communication of concrete and abstract ideas between individuals is what makes humans unique and via generational transfer facilitates the continued growth of human knowledge?

[Sophus]

Plenty of animals use various tools without the need for structured language. Maybe both evolved simultaneously in humans.

Ah, I see. I thought you were referring to writing tools.

So the synthesis of your OP is that the effective communication of concrete and abstract ideas between individuals is what makes humans unique and via generational transfer facilitates the continued growth of human knowledge?

Yes. I think for the most part, this is the case. Without language we could still be inventing simple tools but our knowledge and understanding of the world and how to make things wouldn't really grow.

[byesadness]

The Greatest Human Accomplishment is when a garbage is transformed into something that you can sell for a million dollar!

[pinkocommie]

Weeeee!

[spoiler:p9bttmnh]

Trash art![/spoiler:p9bttmnh]

[Will]

Easy. Tie between mahi mahi fish tacos and development of the scientific method.

[karadan]

Easy. Tie between mahi mahi fish tacos and development of the scientific method.

I've not heard of Mahi mahi fish before. Is it a meaty fish? I had to look up the tacos and found some nice recipes. I doubt we get that fish in the UK though.

[Tank]

Easy. Tie between mahi mahi fish tacos and development of the scientific method.

I've not heard of Mahi mahi fish before. Is it a meaty fish? I had to look up the tacos and found some nice recipes. I doubt we get that fish in the UK though.

You could always order it from Harrods.