Society As A Human Product

We, human beings feel distinctly unique, individual and most importantly, unmistakably superior due to our exclusive intelligence. This is why we, as a society, tend to look down on other types of life-forms, insect or animal, as they do not possess that desired intellect. Yet, Lewis Thomas, in his opinion essay “On Societies as Organisms”, argues that human society has much to learn from the communal accomplishment of other life-forms. The author effectively conveys this main idea through his use of analogy, enumeration of examples and through his level of language.

* The Origin of Man * The Nature of Man * The Dominion of Man * The Environment of Man

The relationship between the individual and society is not just something found throughout human history, but also within the pages of a literature classic. From the first days of settlement in America, to racial tensions and slavery, to the development of capitalism, there has always been a relationship between the individual and society that is reflected in the written pieces of each time, revealing the connection between oneself and the collective spanning across the centuries. ‘The Scarlet Letter’, written in a Puritan world, and ‘Bartleby, The Scrivener’, written in capitalist America, are two key examples of literature that expose, detail and discuss the relationship between society and the individual in American history.

Yuval Noah Harari’s, “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind”, give us a highly detailed description of the history of Homo Sapiens and how they came to take an evolutionary leap at a rate faster than any other living creature on Earth. At the forefront of Sapiens, is Harari’s idea about what made Homo Sapiens become so unimportant to rising up and becoming the most successful species on the planet. Throughout my analysis, I will bring up concepts and idea that Harari brings up throughout the novel.

As the predominate species of Earth, humans possess qualities that distinguish the race as an ordered civilization, rather than an instinct based animal kingdom. However, what pertains to the human race that allows it to influence the world more strongly than other species? To understand humanity’s effect on Earth, it is imperative to know what a human is. Though genetically similar, humans are greatly distinguishable from animals through basic, yet key characteristics of idiosyncrasy, conscious thought, complex emotions, and advanced psychological development (Stix). Within the subjective realm, humans possess the ability to empathize and act upon free will.

Comic book characters represent the best and worst parts of society as seen through the eyes of the writers. Heroes emanate what the writers perceive as the ideal human, someone attractive with a strong moral code and a high tolerance for pain. Villains represent what the writers perceive as problematic, people who are overly ambitious, immoral and represent the “other”, both in appearance and beliefs. These characterisations reflect the views of society’s majority, white men, essentially the creators and controllers of pop culture. Captain America was a hero, the epitome of American Patriotism. He was strong, smart and morally sound and he fought American enemies, the Nazis and communism. Magneto, from the same comic universe as Captain America, was a villain aiming for the eradication of all non-mutants. The interesting thing about his evil acts is that they’re almost justified by his previous experiences with oppression, he’s the comic book representation of a victim fighting back and he’s represented as villainous for that.

Mark Twain’s essay, The Damned Human Race might be a bit fabricated and audacious yet the style is effective, through his pessimistic outlook a persuasive argument on how humans came from lower animals is a convincing thought.

3 f) When the author says "we have ended the thing that has, at least in modern times, defined for us- its separation from human society" he most nearly means that we are but species among many, and so

For centuries, humans have successfully dominated the animal kingdom. They have risen above their own physical characteristics and demolished evolutional boundaries. Like a bird soars and a fish swims, humans have surpassed their somatic disadvantages and created synthetic versions of these methods of travel. Humans have been so successful in conquering the mobility and patterns of other animal species that it has led to the societal succession of humans from the animal kingdom. Although evolutionally, Homo sapiens share common ancestors with other animals, it is a common belief that humans are in a class of their own, separated from their primitive counterparts. This is reinforced in the pattern of colonization in human societies and their

The author approached the subject from a wide variety of perspectives and has produced theories that attract and repel any thoughtful reader. A satisfactory theory would, first of all, be sensitive to the facts about human nature, and it would be appropriately modest about the place of human beings in the scheme of things.

Robert Wright’s Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny discusses the idea of biological evolution and cultural evolution that results to social and global structure, system, and perspective. In his introduction, Wright tells the readers about the concept of biological evolution where he argues that the human destiny begins with a chaotic formation of the society that aims to build a concrete structure in order to establish proper social, political, and moral culmination of sorts. Wright moves further into the idea of biological evolution in his discussion of the DNA, which he defines as the “secret of life.” Truly, the evolution of mankind is difficult to trace because of the complexity of the human body—particularly the construction of the DNA. Then, the author relates it to other structures and institutions like the politics, history, and even religion.

During the semester, in the course Humanity 2.0, the class looked to many perspectives to try to understand what means to be human. The sources we used were the most ancient epic myth known by human society, the views from a behavioral primatologist, a Jewish philosopher, a theologian, and two novels. These resources helped us in class to think critically about the authors works, about our own concepts, beliefs, and about the humans relationships, actions, and what might drives us towards to our behaviors.

As human beings, we have all experienced the notion of being plagued by a single, paralyzing, and perhaps irrational fear. Often seen as a point of weakness and fragility, fear is an integral part of human nature and for the most part, cannot be destroyed, but merely conquered. Touching Bottom follows the female protagonist in her endeavors through her life in relation to her fear. A major variable in her life is swimming and being around water, as the story kicks off with her struggles in learning to swim. She undergoes a traumatizing experience with a leech at summer camp, leaving her paralyzed with a fear of murky water, and leeches specifically, a fear she carries on with her throughout her life. Forward to the protagonist as a married

Humans are the most unique species on Earth. We have gained the ability to things never accomplished before on Earth. We can control our environment, domesticate other species, and more importantly, form complex connections and societies with one another. However, it is widely debated about how we evolved from simple ape-like foragers to the meat-eating, community-building species we are today. In this paper, we will be looking at three authors: Richard Wrangham, Pat Shipman, and Frans de Wall. Each of which approach this question from different directions.

When you hear the word perfection, what is the first image that pops out of your mind? Is it the bright, shiny, twinkling smile of Ian Somerhalder or is it the sexy body of Megan Fox? Or perhaps is it just the cute face of your crush in one of your classes? Or maybe the simple concept of having complete and functional limbs is enough for you to be considered perfect already. For Merriam Webster, perfection is the freedom from fault or defect – or just plain flawlessness. As for most of the people, they view perfection as someone having a face which resembles a Greek god; or somebody who has immaculately fair, white skin similar to an angel that fell from the heavens. They consider someone perfect if he has the ability to make their jaw