# The REAL thing that makes us Man **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 11, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-thing-that-makes-us-man/321135 "2005-09-11T20:14:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-thing-that-makes-us-man/321135/21 "2005-09-12T05:24:27Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > The ability to stand upright. From that, all else follows. Yup. Us, the Kangaroo and the T-Rex. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-thing-that-makes-us-man/321135/22 "2005-09-12T08:24:23Z")
The thing that separates man from all the other animals is that we’re the only ones perenially worried about _whether there’s some defining characteristic that separates us from all the other animals_. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-thing-that-makes-us-man/321135/23 "2005-09-12T09:51:43Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > You obviously haven’t spent a lot of time at the monkey house. 😃 Dammit, **Larry**. I was going to say “obviously you’ve never owned a cat.” I bet you got some perverse pleasure out of ruining my joke. How very human of you. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-thing-that-makes-us-man/321135/24 "2005-09-12T09:57:47Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > I have to question that characterization. Yeah, being soft and hairless and slow, we need tools. Soft and slow, sure, but I doubt anyone would describe me as “hairless.” And what I do with my tool is my own business, thanks. > [@Mangetout](#): > > The thing that separates man from all the other animals is that we’re the only ones perenially worried about whether there’s some defining characteristic that separates us from all the other animals. Now there’s a good one. I had a dog who acted human at times, but when he got around other dogs, he never copped the “Uh, I’m not _with_ them” attitude. And I don’t want to hijack the thread, but that’s what part of what pisses me off about the over-zealous so-called “animal rights” groups. Cruelty I’m 100% hard-line against of course, but I’ve got to roll my eyes every time I see one of those “Why do we keep some animals as pets and eat other animals as food?” (And considering I worked in Berkeley for a three years, my eyes got to really hurting). We do the former because we’re compassionate; we do the latter because _we are animals_. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-thing-that-makes-us-man/321135/25 "2005-09-12T11:29:12Z")
Have any other animals been conned into that whole “Is there a god” and “my god is better than your god” thing? It seems that animals just cark it and don’t fuss about what happens next. They rarly start wars because the tribe the next tree over disagrees about where they go when they die. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-thing-that-makes-us-man/321135.md?page=1)