In Robert Heinlein’s 1957 SF novel Citizen of the Galaxy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_of_the_Galaxy), the protagonist Thorby, a former slave on the planet Jubbul, is adopted by a ship/family of the “Free Traders,” star-roaming merchants having no home but their ships. He makes friends with a guest of the captain’s, an anthropologist named “Margaret Mader.” :rolleyes: In one conversation, she mentions casually to Thorby that “There are only ten things all men have in common with all other men and not with animals – five of them learned, five of them part of our biology.” (Or words to that effect; I don’t have my copy handy.) She does not elaborate further. What are those ten things? I would have assumed they would be the first thing an anthropology student learns, like F = ma in physics. But I asked an anthropology prof once and he was clueless. Perhaps this was some idea current in anthropology in the '50s but since discredited?
I’m sure that at least one or two items in such a list have been discredited or refuted since the 1950s. For example, it was thought at that time that making and using tools was absolutely and exclusively human behavior, but that’s now known not to be the case. Chimpanzees have been shown not only to make simple tools, but also to pass traditional behavior (i.e., culture) to their young. Further, experiments with bonobos have shown them capable of rudimentary numeracy.
Not sure whether to move this to CS or IMHO.
Moving to CS for now.
-xash
General Questions Moderator
The two that I read many years ago were:
1). Drink when not thirsty
2). Have sex all year long
- Drink milk well into adulthood.
“There are only ten things all men have in common with all other men and not with animals – five of them learned, five of them part of our biology.”
I’ll take a guess at two of the biological ones:
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Only humans have philtrums. (I hope that’s spelled right, the little groove down the center of your upper lip.)
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The gluteus maximus is only ‘maximus’ in humans. Something to do with it being mainly involved in keeping your trunk upright, a different hip muscle is larger in other species.
All humans possess and use complex language skills to communicate.
Well, adult cats do that, and not all adult humans do.
Apparently, humans are the only species to have a separate adolescence phase.
Sympathy, empathy, remorse and affection.
Guess you could lump them into one category like “higher emotions” or something, and it could also be argued that not “all” humans have all or some of them.
Milk actually makes adult cats sick - the only time their bodies can properly digest milk is when they’re kittens. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t like milk - and if you put it in front of them, they’ll drink it - they’ll just have the shits shortly after.
Technically, that goes for adult humans as well. Milk is meant for babies.
Untrue. Some adult cats can quite happily drink milk with no ill effects while others can’t. Just as some adult humans can and some can’t.
a learned one which I’m sure would be on the list - Storing information outside of our bodies.
Dreams?
A sense of future and past?
Jaw muscle tension?
If you mean recreational sex with no real intent to procreate, i.e. just for fun, I think bonobos do that. From here:
I saw a documentary about bonobos that said basically everyone gets it on with everyone else, except mothers and their sexually mature male offspring. Large-scale orgies and masturbation-fests are often observed after a sudden shock or crisis situation; it’s like a way for them to calm down.
Dolphins have recreational sex, too, if I remember correctly.
All Humans have an uncontrolable instinct to meddle in things that cannot possibly concern them.
Well, dogs certainly dream.
Yeah, I sometimes think my dog’s dreams are better than mine based on some of the noises she makes!
Reminds me of the Tom Waits song, Tango Till They’re Sore. 
For a biology thing, would opposable thumbs count?