On Being Human

Are we human because of unique traits and attributes not shared with either animal or machine? The definition of "human" is circular: we are human by virtue of the properties that make us human (i.e., distinct from animal and machine). It is a definition by negation: that which separates us from animal and machine is our "human-ness".

We are human because we are not animal, nor machine. But such thinking has been rendered progressively less tenable by the advent of evolutionary and neo-evolutionary theories which postulate a continuum in nature between animals and Man.

Our uniqueness is partly quantitative and partly qualitative. Many animals are capable of cognitively manipulating symbols and using tools. Few are as adept at it as we are. These are easily quantifiable differences - two of many.

Qualitative differences are a lot more difficult to substantiate. In the absence of privileged access to the animal mind, we cannot and don't know if animals feel guilt, for instance. Do animals love? Do they have a concept of sin? What about object permanence, meaning, reasoning, self-awareness, critical thinking? Individuality? Emotions? Empathy? Is artificial intelligence (AI) an oxymoron? A machine that passes the Turing Test may well be described as "human". But is it really? And if it is not - why isn't it?

Literature is full of stories of monsters - Frankenstein, the Golem - and androids or anthropoids. Their behaviour is more "humane" than the humans around them. This, perhaps, is what really sets humans apart: their behavioural unpredictability. It is yielded by the interaction between Mankind's underlying immutable genetically-determined nature - and Man's kaleidoscopically changing environments.

The Constructivists even claim that Human Nature is a mere cultural artefact. Sociobiologists, on the other hand, are determinists. They believe that human nature - being the inevitable and inexorable outcome of our bestial ancestry - cannot be the subject of moral judgment.

An improved Turing Test would look for baffling and erratic patterns of misbehaviour to identify humans. Pico della Mirandola wrote in "Oration on the Dignity of Man" that Man was born without a form and can mould and transform - actually, create - himself at will. Existence precedes essence, said the Existentialists centuries later.

The one defining human characteristic may be our awareness of our mortality. The automatically triggered, "fight or flight", battle for survival is common to all living things (and to appropriately programmed machines). Not so the catalytic effects of imminent death. These are uniquely human. The appreciation of the fleeting translates into aesthetics, the uniqueness of our ephemeral life breeds morality, and the scarcity of time gives rise to ambition and creativity.

In an infinite life, everything materializes at one time or another, so the concept of choice is spurious. The realization of our finiteness forces us to choose among alternatives. This act of selection is predicated upon the existence of "free will". Animals and machines are thought to be devoid of choice, slaves to their genetic or human programming.

Yet, all these answers to the question: "What does it mean to be human" - are lacking.

The set of attributes we designate as human is subject to profound alteration. Drugs, neuroscience, introspection, and experience all cause irreversible changes in these traits and characteristics. The accumulation of these changes can lead, in principle, to the emergence of new properties, or to the abolition of old ones.

Animals and machines are not supposed to possess free will or exercise it. What, then, about fusions of machines and humans (bionics)? At which point does a human turn into a machine? And why should we assume that free will ceases to exist at that - rather arbitrary - point?

Introspection - the ability to construct self-referential and recursive models of the world - is supposed to be a uniquely human quality. What about introspective machines? Surely, say the critics, such machines are PROGRAMMED to introspect, as opposed to humans. To qualify as introspection, it must be WILLED, they continue. Yet, if introspection is willed - WHO wills it? Self-willed introspection leads to infinite regression and formal logical paradoxes.

Moreover, the notion - if not the formal concept - of "human" rests on many hidden assumptions and conventions.

Political correctness notwithstanding - why presume that men and women (or different races) are identically human? Aristotle thought they were not. A lot separates males from females - genetically (both genotype and phenotype) and environmentally (culturally). What is common to these two sub-species that makes them both "human"?

Can we conceive of a human without body (i.e., a Platonian Form, or soul)? Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas think not. A soul has no existence separate from the body. A machine-supported energy field with mental states similar to ours today - would it be considered human? What about someone in a state of coma - is he or she (or it) fully human?

Is a new born baby human - or, at least, fully human - and, if so, in which sense? What about a future human race - whose features would be unrecognizable to us? Machine-based intelligence - would it be thought of as human? If yes, when would it be considered human?

In all these deliberations, we may be confusing "human" with "person". The former is a private case of the latter. Locke's person is a moral agent, a being responsible for its actions. It is constituted by the continuity of its mental states accessible to introspection.

Locke's is a functional definition. It readily accommodates non-human persons (machines, energy matrices) if the functional conditions are satisfied. Thus, an android which meets the prescribed requirements is more human than a brain dead person.

Descartes' objection that one cannot specify conditions of singularity and identity over time for disembodied souls is right only if we assume that such "souls" possess no energy. A bodiless intelligent energy matrix which maintains its form and identity over time is conceivable. Certain AI and genetic software programs already do it.

Strawson is Cartesian and Kantian in his definition of a "person" as a "primitive". Both the corporeal predicates and those pertaining to mental states apply equally, simultaneously, and inseparably to all the individuals of that type of entity. Human beings are one such entity. Some, like Wiggins, limit the list of possible persons to animals - but this is far from rigorously necessary and is unduly restrictive.

The truth is probably in a synthesis:

A person is any type of fundamental and irreducible entity whose typical physical individuals (i.e., members) are capable of continuously experiencing a range of states of consciousness and permanently having a list of psychological attributes.

This definition allows for non-animal persons and recognizes the personhood of a brain damaged human ("capable of experiencing"). It also incorporates Locke's view of humans as possessing an ontological status similar to "clubs" or "nations" - their personal identity consists of a variety of interconnected psychological continuities.

About The Author

Sam Vaknin is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He is a columnist for Central Europe Review, PopMatters, and eBookWeb , a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent, and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory Bellaonline, and Suite101 .

Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

Visit Sam's Web site at http://samvak.tripod.com

palma@unet.com.mk

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Troubadours

CHRETIEN DE TROYES:Academics will freely admit that this man was... Read More

Precious Stones ? The Big Five - Part 3 The Sapphire

The sapphire, protector of the innocent, celestial guardian of truth,... Read More

Crazy Horse

My ancestry includes Colonel Miles (or Myles) Keough (or Keogh)... Read More

How I lost A million Dollars In A Bank Robbery

The Million dollars was my life-savings earmarked for prime the... Read More

Elvis Presley, Lifting Off

He seems to live forever. A network television movie about... Read More

Mexican Living: Doctors, Doctors, Doctors

I am sick. I don't know what's wrong nor if... Read More

Building Catapults Required Engineering Know How

When building catapults, armies had to include in their ranks... Read More

Mars, the Mighty and Marvelous

Martius, the month of March, is named after him. So... Read More

Art, Artists, and the Web: Part 1--Why Every Artist Should Have Their Own Website

First rate art is in danger of being left behind... Read More

OM to Ogham

Plato observed that the advent of an alphabet making writing... Read More

The Original Nobility: Patricians and Knights

By "nobility" I refer to that class in society which... Read More

When We Was Kids In Chicago

Radio was the big communicator, back when I was a... Read More

The Trafalgar Way - Devon Remembers the Battle of Trafalgar

During the third week of August 2005 the Trafalgar Way... Read More

The Symbolism Behind an Anchor Tattoo and Anchor Tattoo Design

Anchor tattoos were all the rage for sailors. It was... Read More

What is Feng Shui, and How Does It Work?

Feng shui (say "fung shway"), often called the art of... Read More

Native American Art Thunderbird

The thunderbird has been one of the most dominant icons... Read More

Hello I Must Be Going: The Vanishing Twin

They walk among us. By the mid nineties, science had... Read More

Michael Jacksons Latest Album Has Flopped

One month after being cleared of sex assault charges, Michael... Read More

Rasputin

GRIGORY EFIMOVICH NOVYKH (RASPUTIN):'Hail, Hail, Ras-putin'. This man's story has... Read More

African Masks

The following is a general over view of African Masks.There... Read More

Is Timing the Secret of Success?

Success is often viewed as a magic potion. Market demand... Read More

To Quote or Not to Quote

"By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote."... Read More

Better Red than Dead!

Red, perhaps the first color our eyes perceive.It is said... Read More

The Masked Fool

The FoolMy first direct experience of the fool in masking... Read More

My Introduction To Northwest Coast Native American Art

I had lived in Vancouver very briefly as a child... Read More

History and the Cathars (Courtly Love):

This is an entry from my three volume encyclopedia.CRUSADES, CATHARS... Read More

The Birth Of Eskimo Inuit Art Prints

Unlike Inuit sculpture, art prints from the Canadian Arctic are... Read More

Babel vs. the PC

Imagine a time when mankind was young. Migration led many... Read More

Rules of Noble Succession

Let me first say that the rules of noble succession,... Read More

Authenticity Of Vastu (Science of Indian architecture)

Vastu is one of the most ancient sciences of Indian... Read More

Your Stars 2

Leo Some tragic news hits you hard and makes you... Read More

From Dynasty to Destiny: Ten Celebrated Inventions of Ancient China

In the last two centuries, new cultural discoveries have nearly... Read More

The Power of Words

I freely confess that I have had a life-long love... Read More