What makes us human?

Discuss the February 2017 Book of the Month, The Diary of an Immortal by David J Castello.
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michelonline29
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Re: What makes us human?

Post by michelonline29 »

I think what makes us human is our ability to love and respect others. The ability on how we interact with other people. In short, our emotions makes us human.
"The only source of knowledge is experience" -Albert Einstein
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Post by Moniquejm »

It makes us human if we have the ability to live our life to the fullest! we have emotions, feelings and we act for the goodness of many not only for our fellow human but for other creatures too.
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Post by jwheeler28 »

There is so much that makes us human. For starters, there is our emotions. Our ability to feel so many different things, like love, hurt, anger, and fear. Then there is our intellect, or intelligence. We has humans have a certain intellect. Whether that is being a genius, or just knowing a certain area very well that we as humans have a broad understanding, or intelligent aspect to. The biggest one we all share is our ability to feel emotion though. As humans feel pain, anger, fear and love, I believe even immortals do as well. They didn't become immortal just because they were born, they had to be human first to become immortal. This means that they had to feel just non-immortals, they have to have some concept of intelligence. All of it plays a factor in the human life, its just knowing what to do with that sets us apart from the rest.
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Post by Mavovo »

cjohns105 wrote:In many parts of the book we find Steven purposefully distancing himself from different aspects of his life before. At other times, the way he sees the world and the situations he encounters in it, seem to change dramatically in a short period of time without a conscious effort on his part.

What do you think the author is trying to say about what makes us human? Are the changes Steven goes through meant to aid him, or make a point to the reader? What do you think makes us human?
:oops: well in this instance it portrays the weak nature of humans when faced with life and death and the need to be saved somehow. It also shows how we have the need for more time in order to prevent and correct that which is not right for society and also more time as well to do what we truly want to do deep down in our hearts and not because we have to. It also shows to me how perhaps the soldiers serving in wars feel that they need more time or endless time to save the people and also to be able to lead some semblance of a normal life by pursuing a dream. this book is all about the human need for more time, more time or endless time to learn and master new skills thus the "super power of becoming a great musician"
As for Hitler he remains a regrettable history that we somehow wish we had the power to undo or prevent the mental scar left behind.
As for the formula being with the monks....lets face it the world does somehow believe that the monks understand life and it take the Chinese longer to age as they always look so young. lol
So in its entirety the book is very interesting on its take on being human.

For me to be human is to keep faith, hope and having dreams to peruse and fulfill.
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Post by Amagine »

I believe what makes us human is our humility and the fact that we are imperfect creatures. We make tons of mistakes and do lots of things we really shouldn't. We can be evil at times and at other times we can be pure. All these multiple sides to us and contradictions make us human.
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Post by MaricelBaby »

What makes us human are the different challenges or obstacles we had undergone and will be undergoing as we further our survival in this world. Essentialism philosophy would say that the real meaning of human is that, accepting all the challenges of life even to the extent of sacrificing your life for as long as it is beneficial to all.
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Post by christinac_2585 »

I think what makes us human is how we can feel and how we can make choices. I agree with what most of what everyone has posted so far. I think our feelings are a core part of our way of like and what's makes us human.
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Post by Rey »

I believe it's our ability to do both the rights and the wrongs, and also our capacity to feel.
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Post by Katherine Smith »

I think that our capacity for higher thinking like imagining an afterlife or paradise as it is most often referred to. I also think that what makes us human is the ability to constantly question the world around us and shape our world.
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Post by ifeoma obike »

The major thing that makes us human is emotion whether of love, hatred, anger, fear, joy, or anxiety. These feelings controls most abilities like the ability to choose and adapt. The choices we make are based on the feelings we attach towards them. Emotion enable us to adapt to situations, for instance when you feel good you can stand up to challenges but when you're feeling gloomy and miserable, living feels like a huge task.
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Post by stoppoppingtheP »

I think what makes us human is our ability to make choices based on reasoning and intelligence as well as emotional understanding. Computers or artificial intelligence can only make choices based on factual intelligence, however, we use both in order to make decisions.

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Post by debo9967 »

I would like to say our emotions and reasoning, like everyone else on this thread. But to be honest, in recent times what we humans have done to each other makes me think that the only emotions we harbor is are greed, malice, and bloodlust.
On the positive side, I think human belief, hope and our unlimited potential to reach out for the unknown, really distinguishes us.
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Post by Vermont Reviews »

MarisaRose wrote:I agree with a lot of what has been said above. However, I think one of the most important qualities that make us human is our ability to choose. Many times our choices are guided by our emotions, but it is important to realize being human allows us to create the life we live through our choices.

I agree

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Post by bobRas »

Maybe it's the ability to ask the question "What makes us human?"

I think it's partially the ability to put ourselves in other people's/creatures' shoes. The Theory of Mind. To think about our own and others' thought processes (emotional and "rational").

And maybe it's partially our ability to live "outside" our bodies. I don't necessarily mean this in a spiritual or religious sense, but rather, that our lives do not have to be restricted to our bodily restrictions. I can communicate my thoughts to people on the other side of the world through common language, even after my passing.

Other animals can feel, mourn, and empathize, but humans can do so on a much larger and complex scale.
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Post by Spirit Wandering »

All creatures have the ability to learn from their experiences. However, humans have the capacity to place those experiences into a bigger context and glean meaning from them. Hopefully such meaning will lead to spiritual growth for both for the individual and humanity as a whole.
Interested in books that help one's spirit move beyond the ordinary.
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