What does it really mean to be human? Does it just mean being a living thing like many others? Even though human beings are classified as "mammals", we ourselves think we are very different from those "mammals". Since the beginning of time, man were made to be perfect and to not have a fixed path, and he get to choose what ever he wished to be to create his destination. Or so like what the Italian Renaissance humanists would say. But what makes them think that? There's something going on in our brain that forces us to explore and think. And by doing so, we gained ourselves many opportunities to learn, and learning will eventually leads to inventions and the birth of new knowledge.This comes to what I think the definition of humanity would be, "intelligence". Intelligence is what made humans special from others. It is the source that makes them think and develop more and more interesting topics about all kinds of stuffs. I mean, why would you identify yourself as perfect. You don't see any monkeys out there saying I'm perfect because I can jump, climb, and eat...bananas? It is a person's intellect that keep his thinking process going and evolve beyond others.
Humans' intelligence went way back to the time of cavemen, when humans were first evolved to their "human form". They learned how to make fire for warmth and survival. They developed basic weapons and tools to hunt and protect themselves. Then there comes a time when they felt they needed something to wear. They thought of a way to create clothing from animals' skins and keep them warm. Their intelligence eventually helped them survived through the terrible Ice Age, a freezing cold period of time that caused extinctions to many other animals. And from then on, humans migrated to different parts of the world and each started their individual developments there.
Then there comes a time when people needed something to keep their lives going, or a goal to live. With intelligence, they invented something called "religion" that eventually became a very important aspect of life. It is a system of belief, and it's what creates an ideal for humans to live. They even created "God" or "Gods" depends on whether you're monotheism or polytheism. Many of you might think that I'm disrespecting your religion so don't take this offensively. But in reality, if not because of human, there would not be any religions out there and so would there be God. Many religions today around us are mostly among Buddhism, Christianity, Catholic, Hinduism, Islam, Jehovah's Witness, etc...With something to live forward to for their lives, humans wanted to have things to live "with" their lives.
There are just too much jobs and bothers out there, we think. So we tried to make things that can help us out and make our lives easier. Humans then started abusing their intelligence and invented tons of crazy things overtime. We decided to not live in caves anymore and made houses instead. Then we invented printing presses to duplicates our works. The Chinese invented papers to write on, even though the Egyptians think they did. No I'm just kidding, it depends on what source of papers you're thinking. . Renaissance people invented modern clocks and telescopes so they can watch stars when they're bored. People even invented things to help them with transportation. They were able to tame horses to ride and boats to go over water. They eventually created cars that runs on gas. You basically just need to sit inside and "step" on it and it will run, and it goes pretty fast too. They then wanted to be like birds and invented airplanes to travel across continents. Mastered both land and sky, then why not sea? They made ships to travel on water and submarines to travel under water. No more places to travel? Don't worry, they even made space shuttles to leave Earth and go space traveling. What I'm using to type this right now is also another cause of intelligence. The invention of computers made online searching possible. People can access a lot of learnings and knowledge through the web. Although it might considered to be a very bad influence for little kids, it's still a magnificent invention. I have listed so many good things that came from humans' intelligence. I'm sure there are many more others, but what if we humans DO NOT possess intelligence?
This might sound very vague, but if we humans really don't possess intelligence, would we just be like a more "humanoid" version of apes? Well that is if we would even SURVIVED till this point. There are countable events in the past that might have exterminated our kind such as the Ice Age, and we wouldn't have survived if not because of our intelligence. We couldn't have protected ourselves when comparing our physical capabilities with other beasts. There would be no houses, no school, no technology, no language, and I won't even be here writing this essay. Imagine what it would be like if everything you're seeing right now disappear before your eyes. That's probably what it would be like if we humans don't possess intelligence. We wouldn't be able to differentiate between what's right or wrong and we would live like other wild animals. I know that sounds very unbelievable, but it's something that would surely occur if we don't have the fundamental mind and intellects like we are now.
Intelligence is what made humans, human. It is what sets us apart from other creatures. Everything we have created to this day and beyond is the result of our intelligence. Without it, we are probably still in a cave and eat nuts right now. Worst of all, who would know if we would even survive to this day? Humans are weak -physically- when comparing to many other animals in the world of survival. But we have something that others don't have, our incomparable intellect. It is what granted us the power to populate the Earth and became the leading specie of all kinds.
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