Reflection: This was an interesting topic that I had to think carefully about before I approached it. I felt like there were many different views I could go with but I wanted to go with the right one. I mostly saw humans as hyper-social organisms who are able to communicate efficiently. I was excited to see what other people thought “being human” was.

What does “being human” mean to me?

Bertrand Appia

When I think about what it means to be human there are two meanings that I think about, a biological and social meaning for what it means to be human. For the biological meaning it’s already common knowledge for how we are different from the animals around us and primates, our biological ancestors. The first thing that separates us humans from other organisms is our bipedalism. Being able to walk upright on two legs is a trait that other animals do not have. You may see the occasional cat or dog walking upright for a brief moment but they are biologically incapable of maintaining that form of walking. The other big parts of what it means to be human is our large brains and our ability to communicate through different languages and writings. I think these are the main things that define the biological meaning of what it means to be human. Our ability to socialize with each other is the second meaning of what it means to be human. We were able to work with each other since the earliest time when “humanity” started. We went from small groups of people to villages, cities then countries. There are no other organisms that have achieved such a large scale (and somewhat unified) gathering of individuals that covers the entire world. I mostly see being human as a social thing within our own group than comparing ourselves with other organisms. Humanity is just a large word used to define the many different social groups that we have formed. You have high school kids, college kids, families, friends, race, culture, I feel like we have separated ourselves a lot. A reading that stuck with me most was Rochat’s reading. It’s best to compare our social habits instead of our biological traits when it comes to differentiating humans from other organisms. We work as a unit to meet all of our requirements to ensure our survival and advancement as a species. We are basically social creatures who can only really survive together. This is a little of what I think it means to be human. To be honest I’m still looking for a definition that I’d be satisfied with.