What traits of humanity are you proud of?

[Sirrobert]

I will tell you once we solve the fossil fuels issue.

We already have. Nuclear Energy is the solution. People just need to stop being afraid of the word.

As funny as it sounds, I do agree that war is the mother of all human progression.

All recent major jumps in science I can think of have roots in war. And even in times of peace, most big technologies start as developments for the military, and later make a jump to the civilian population.

Hell even the internet started as a military thing

I'm not sure, but I'm pritty sure the first rockets were used as weapons. Airplanes may have been invented in peace (the Wright brothers) but the biggest jumps happend when someone realized we could use them to replace hot air baloons for recon. And later, to use them to shoot at enemys on the ground.

The Atomic Bomb is the only reason we currently have Nuclear Energy, which would be the perfect solution to our energy and polution problems if only the public wasn't so afraid of the word nuclear

Modern rocket science has it's root in World war 2, with the **** V2. And the cold war ensured that the VS and the USSR developed those technologies further. The only reason we landed on the moon, is because the US wanted to be better than the USSR.

It's our compettetive feelings, our desire to be better than the rest, and to have power over the rest, that is history's main driving force behind invention.

Now if you want to look deeper, to our genetic advantage, it's pritty simple.

Our big brains allow us to adept to any envirioment. There is no other species on Earth that can survive on both the North Pole, a tropical rainforest, and everything in between at the same time.

Beer. I'm a homebrewer and the magic involved brewing beer makes me understand why ancient man held it to such high esteem. Some scientist even wonder of beer led early man to agriculture.

I heard that theory yes. It was the need to grow hop that drove man to settle in 1 place in order to grow it.

I love that theory. Sounds pritty plausable to

Edited March 6, 2014 by Sirrobert

[Camacha]

you will think differently when we encounter aliens, and dominate.

You got this domination thing firmly on your agenda. I think the desire to dominate anything we encouter is rather classical imperialist. As long as the other side does not dominate us, why can't we just try to work together?

The west did this domination thing a while ago and it turns out to have rather nasty costs associated with it.

Edited March 6, 2014 by Camacha

[Camacha]

I was envisioning traits that Homo sapiens, alone of all the species on Earth, could be proud of having, products of our currently unmatched self-awareness. Any animal can lay claim to simply refusing to die, but how many can be willing to save other species from extinction, on purpose, at a cost to their own resources? We are meek, not in the modern sense (lack of power, helpless) but in an older sense (has power, but can show restraint in wielding that power), or at least, we're learning to be so.

I like this a lot more. Aggression in itself is a common and primitive trait. The ability to be kind and compassionate after you have learned how to destroy is what sets people/things apart. And I mean to treat others as equals, not as things you are kind to because you can crush them at will.

[Camacha]

We already have. Nuclear Energy is the solution. People just need to stop being afraid of the word.

Nuclear fusion, yes. Fission is a mediocre solution and I consider it a real letdown that we as mankind have not invested more time and money to make fusion work. Ah well, as soon as the oil dries up we probably will.

[m4v]

We already have. Nuclear Energy is the solution. People just need to stop being afraid of the word.

My point wasn't that there's no technological solution, but that humanity isn't willing to take the steps needed for ditch fossil fuels.

Nuclear fusion, yes. Fission is a mediocre solution and I consider it a real letdown that we as mankind have not invested more time and money to make fusion work. Ah well, as soon as the oil dries up we probably will.

Nuclear fusion is a pipe dream, they have been saying for 50 years that we're 50 years away from a working reactor. Really at this point the effort is better spent in more practical alternatives than keep on chasing for a silver bullet that might come too late.

Edited March 7, 2014 by m4v

[Camacha]

Nuclear fusion is a pipe dream, they have been saying for 50 years that we're 50 years away from a working reactor. Really at this point the effort is better spent in more practical alternatives than keep on chasing for a silver bullet that might come too late.

No. That would go against everything that makes humanity great. One of humanity's best traits is the ability to be totally wayward and not accept the things the way they are. That is when we do stuff that is utterly crazy, but amazing. That is why we discovered fire, that is why we go everywhere, that is why we built the LHC. We are a stubborn bunch and that is what drives us beyond pure practicality.

It is the one reason I am confident that we will not go extinct easily - we will simply refuse to.

[NASAFanboy]

It is the one reason I am confident that we will not go extinct easily - we will simply refuse to.

http://growahealthychurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image001.jpg

Ahem.

That would be the trait that I would be the most proud of.

[Stargate525]

Nuclear fusion is a pipe dream, they have been saying for 50 years that we're 50 years away from a working reactor. Really at this point the effort is better spent in more practical alternatives than keep on chasing for a silver bullet that might come too late.

Except just recently scientists and engineers have gotten a net positive reaction. We're still putting in massive amounts more energy than we're releasing, but for a while we got the reaction to sustain itself.

We are close.

[m4v]

No. That would go against everything that makes humanity great. One of humanity's best traits is the ability to be totally wayward and not accept the things the way they are. That is when we do stuff that is utterly crazy, but amazing. That is why we discovered fire, that is why we go everywhere, that is why we built the LHC. We are a stubborn bunch and that is what drives us beyond pure practicality.

It is the one reason I am confident that we will not go extinct easily - we will simply refuse to.

http://growahealthychurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image001.jpg

uh huh, wishful thinking doesn't make things real. And I'm sure we will not go extinct, the question is what will be cost of the transition. Really I think that pursuing more practical alternatives will make the transition less painful, than waiting until **** hits the fan and everyone realizes that fusion reactors will not be a real soon enough.

Except just recently scientists and engineers have gotten a net positive reaction. We're still putting in massive amounts more energy than we're releasing, but for a while we got the reaction to sustain itself.

We are close.

That net positive reaction was something like 5% of the energy that was needed to power the lasers, I don't see how you can think we're close. And reaching break even isn't the only problem that fusion reactors have, is the only problem that everyone is working on.

[Stargate525]

That net positive reaction was something like 5% of the energy that was needed to power the lasers, I don't see how you can think we're close. And reaching break even isn't the only problem that fusion reactors have, is the only problem that everyone is working on.

We're about 50% closer than we were a decade ago, when we couldn't even get this reaction outside of a thermonuclear weapon. I think we're close because now we have a viable method that has demonstrated that it can ignite a sustained reaction. The problem now is keeping that energy it's producing facing inwards.

[m4v]

We're about 50% closer than we were a decade ago, when we couldn't even get this reaction outside of a thermonuclear weapon. I think we're close because now we have a viable method that has demonstrated that it can ignite a sustained reaction. The problem now is keeping that energy it's producing facing inwards.

I see why you're so optimistic, you're just ignorant of the kind of problems that need solving before making a fusion reactor real.

[Vanamonde]

I am proudest of our ability to remain focused on the subject of the thread. (Hint, hint.)

[Headhunter09]

People in this forum are notoriously bad at keeping up a debate. They always get fixated on pointless issues. For example, a thread about colonizing Mars turns into an argument about whether NERVA is politically feasible, and a thread about traits of humanity turns into an argument about whether fusion is a feasible energy source.

Stop getting hung up on small, unrelated debates. Go start a new thread in that case.

[rkman]

Nope

Sorry, but we migrate / colonise due to various pressures be they economic / military / resources etc...

Sorry, but humans do more than just expand.

Without aggression, you don't expand, frankly you die !

Plenty animals do not "expand", yet they do not die.

[pxi]

In that case it would be Culture. I think we are the only animals to have that. Every other trait we have, other animals have to to some extent. But none that I know of have Culture.

I'd have to say that it really depends on what you consider culture. Many monkeys pass learned tool-using behaviours from mother to child.

But I would agree. The sheer variety and diversity of human culture is an insanely impressive thing.

[Stargate525]

I am proudest of our ability to remain focused on the subject of the thread. (Hint, hint.)

I knew it! You're NOT HUMAN!

As far as abilities... Gonna have to go with resilience. We are blessed with one of the best endurances in the animal kingdom, are incredibly hard to kill, and very persistent. Heck, we overcome disease by GIVING OURSELVES A SLIGHTLY WEAKER VERSION. If that's not badass...

[guto8797]

Compared to other animal species, Humans have a higher intelligence and ingenuity, allowing us to create tools and means to solve our problems, ways to give us strengths we don't have. However on the Physical side, humans are surprisingly weak.

For our size and considering the amount of food we ingest, humans are slow (a cat can out-run us), we are weak (any chip etc is stronger than us), we can't stealth (even slow steps are noisy has heck, and our tall structure doesn't help us hide). However, without some kind of physical strength, we would never have survived long enough to actually develop said intelligence. Most specialists agree that we have two major strengths:

1st: Resistance. Most animals, suffering from heavy physical damage, just enter pain shock and die. Chop a horse's leg or a lion's leg off, and it will mostly likely die from just that. Humans however, if motivated, and fuel by enough hormones, usually just die when the hearth or brain is hit. How many examples of soldiers having their limbs blown and cut off, and they just hold the stump and press onwards. That is a major strength.

2nd: Hunt by pursuit. A cheetah hunts by hitting 90km/h and snapping the victim's neck. Sometimes they escape. Humans hunt by pursuit. Slowly, yet steadilly, at a constant slow speed, almost not stopping for food or rest, we just follow the victim trails. There is evidence of humans walking the equivalent from one tip Florida to the other on hunts, with less than 3 hours of sleep and some berries. No matter how hard you fight, how fast you run, how good you hide. We will follow you. And we will find you.

In the end, what I most like about Humanity is our ingenuity. We solve problems, we find ways to give us strengths we don't have. A human introducing himself could indeed say: "I solve practical problems"

[9911MU51C]

Curiosity, Ingenuity, and our adaptability in my opinion. I mean, even scabs seem so simple, but it's literally your body making fibers of minerals to pull a wound shut like stitches

[Stargate525]

2nd: Hunt by pursuit. A cheetah hunts by hitting 90km/h and snapping the victim's neck. Sometimes they escape. Humans hunt by pursuit. Slowly, yet steadilly, at a constant slow speed, almost not stopping for food or rest, we just follow the victim trails. There is evidence of humans walking the equivalent from one tip Florida to the other on hunts, with less than 3 hours of sleep and some berries. No matter how hard you fight, how fast you run, how good you hide. We will follow you. And we will find you.

Yup. That's our big one. Endurance. We are the only species on earth that will WALK you to death.

[Camacha]

uh huh, wishful thinking doesn't make things real. And I'm sure we will not go extinct, the question is what will be cost of the transition. Really I think that pursuing more practical alternatives will make the transition less painful, than waiting until **** hits the fan and everyone realizes that fusion reactors will not be a real soon enough.

Yes, it probably the most viable option to get things done. It is far from a pleasant path, but history has shown us we shine brightest in times of strive. Although I have hope we will learn to be sensible before this becomes a necessity.

[Camacha]

1st: Resistance. Most animals, suffering from heavy physical damage, just enter pain shock and die. Chop a horse's leg or a lion's leg off, and it will mostly likely die from just that. Humans however, if motivated, and fuel by enough hormones, usually just die when the hearth or brain is hit. How many examples of soldiers having their limbs blown and cut off, and they just hold the stump and press onwards. That is a major strength.

Sounds like stubborn determination to me.

2nd: Hunt by pursuit. A cheetah hunts by hitting 90km/h and snapping the victim's neck. Sometimes they escape. Humans hunt by pursuit. Slowly, yet steadilly, at a constant slow speed, almost not stopping for food or rest, we just follow the victim trails. There is evidence of humans walking the equivalent from one tip Florida to the other on hunts, with less than 3 hours of sleep and some berries. No matter how hard you fight, how fast you run, how good you hide. We will follow you. And we will find you.

Say, that sounds familiar. Something about not giving up and going on?

Like I said, whether you like it or not, the ability to stupidly pursue a goal is a very human trait - one that got us where we are. It takes a bit of an idiot to want to fly, to build the highest tower or to harness the forest fire.

[nobbers12345]

I think it would be either our curiosity or determination, but they're pretty much hand in hand, right?

Curiotermination!

No, wait

Decuriosity

Dangit, not yet

Curiomation

Better.

[Sirrobert]

Sounds like stubborn determination to me.

Say, that sounds familiar. Something about not giving up and going on?

Like I said, whether you like it or not, the ability to stupidly pursue a goal is a very human trait - one that got us where we are. It takes a bit of an idiot to want to fly, to build the highest tower or to harness the forest fire.

It's WAY more than just stubornness.

Humans have more endurance and resiliance than any other comparable animal on this planet.

Break a human's leg, and asuming you allow for proper healing procces, he'll eventually be running a marathon. (asuming he was a marathonrunning before breaking his leg offcourse)

If you break a horse's leg, it'll be cripple for the rest of it's life.

It's more than refusing to give up. Our physical limits are way higher than that of any other mammals.

You know those movies where someone gets stabed once and than dies?

Unless you hit a major artery (in which case you'd bleed out over the course of several minutes) or the hearth, a single stab would will not kill a human (not counting infections).

There's a reason you sometimes hear news messages about someone stabbing someone else 20 times. Humans are very difficult to kill

[The Jedi Master]

At first I was going to laugh, but then I realized we have a few things to be proud of.

A Sense Of Morality

Let us assume this alien species is like they are in most fiction: Cold, ruthless, following what can only be described as 'Perfect Logic'. For example, the logical thing to do with tiny, primitive planet Earth is to enslave its most advanced species. And they do just that.

But we humans don't like that. While it may be logical, we humans realize that it is inherently wrong, and we resist. Why is this? On matters like this, humans don't follow their mind. They follow their heart. That is a very good thing.

Ingenuity

Ten years ago, if you said to someone that some day we were going to have cell phones that were really miniature computers, the person you were talking to would probably shrug it off as one of those 'that would be awesome' comments. Fifty years ago, if you said that one day we would have planes that fly themselves, they would have laughed at you or called it science fiction. One hundred years ago, if you said that one day we would walk on the moon, they would throw you in an insane asylum.

Yet all these things happened. Why? Because humans wanted these things, and so we made them, with nothing but some theories, some raw materials and our own ingenuity. If aliens invaded, we could take their tech, reverse-engineer it and make it better. Nothing can stand against that. As patriotic as it sounds, it's why America came out on top in the Cold War.

Determination

As mentioned by other posters, humans are the most determined species on the planet. We get hungry, we get tired, we start to lose hope, but we do not stop. This is how criminals that seem impossible to catch get caught--we want revenge for the pain he has caused, so we just keep going. And criminals are our equals in such determination. Most aliens in fiction, and maybe even in real life? Not so much.

Insanity

Lets all be honest--all the great leaders throughout history were a little crazy. That did mean they didn't always make the best decisions. But it also meant they made the ones that seemed 'too crazy to work'. At risk of being 'All-American' again, take WW2--A county in the middle of an economic crisis invading the number one superpower? A little crazy, don't you think? Yet we still won.

Why? Because we were that spanner in the works, the one possibility too remote to consider. We could easily do the same against ET. They would learn a harsh lesson--if that pawn on the far side gets to the other side of the board, they become a queen.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In conclusion, I now have hope in humanity. Thank you, OP! After worrying about the Ukraine and Syria and all the other stupid things in the world, I needed that.

[Camacha]

It's more than refusing to give up.

I consider it to be the same thing.

Our physical limits are way higher than that of any other mammals.

That rather depends on what other mammals you compare us too