i think the ending of mgs2 had alot about that sort of thing

but it doesnt matter if your special or not, makes things a whole lot easier if you go around thinking you do, if you think your not then whats to stop you from being normal

Quote from Mantha

Note the fact that English is one of the easiest languages, if we're talking about "complexity".

I think I read somewhere that it's one of the easiest first languages to learn, but it's also one of the hardest second languages, depending on what your first language was.

Entertaining the idea that whale song is more complicated than the English language, complexity and effectiveness at communication are two different things. Whale song is complicated because it doesn't have the same number of possible sounds and has evolved through genetic evolution rather than design by intelligence. No whale can discuss Kantian philosophy or the ontological argument for the existence of a god with another whale, let alone with an alien able to communicate through whalesong.

Back to the subject, I think that human individuals are more unique in their experience rather than their genome. I think that nurture effects diversity in human thought far greater than nature, which is evidenced by the fact that we share 93% of our DNA with Fruit Flies, and the gap caused by the difference between individual humans is, we can assume, far smaller to an excessive degree. The things we experience, the subtleties in what happen to us change our being the most. The stereotypes of the muscular idiot and skinny, weak acne-ridden genius are related to the release of testosterone in a male's body, because working out and playing sports increases the flow of testosterone which enunciates male features (Though ironically, testicles, one of the primary organs which define males, suffers when testosterone is present in excess.) and such a person is less likely to engage in intellectual endeavors, though this is not a rule.

I also think that intelligence is something of a muscle. I don't think that being physically stupid is common at all, and that by engaging the right portions of the brain in excess can become intelligent to a high degree. Obviously some people ARE physically incapable to being intelligent, but these are far less common than many people may think.


In the end, I don't think that humans are inherently all that special when born, they only become special with time.

Quote from Exilement

I think I read somewhere that it's one of the easiest first languages to learn, but it's also one of the hardest second languages, depending on what your first language was.

It was my third language. My first two belong in the completely different language group.

So yeah, it's the easiest.

I'd say humans as a whole are "special" because of their self-aware consciousness. We can think about us thinking, about us thinking- haha. We can toy with concepts, non material things. I don't believe there are any other animals that do that, at least we haven't seen it yet.

I do think each individual human is special in a way, but our brains job isn't to constantly be aware of the uniqueness and beauty of the world. It just categorizes for ease of use. So yeah, if you got to personally know everyone on earth, they're all special. But you won't do that, ever.

Quote from Exilement

I think I read somewhere that it's one of the easiest first languages to learn, but it's also one of the hardest second languages, depending on what your first language was.

I heard that it's one of the easiest languages to learn, but one of the hardest to be fluent at, because of slang and the like.

Have you guys been ignoring me or something? It really is easy to learn it as a second language too. The sentence structure and the grammar is a lot easier than Slovene or German, for instance. Yes, including all of those tenses.

But then again, depends on how illigent the person is. I know people who have serious problems with English. I guess you have to study/talk every day if you want anything with it.

Well whatever, I'll stop being off-topic.