What do we possess that is unique to us? We are gifted in that evolution fell our way, but there's nothing in us that isn't a chemical predisposition that is imposed on us through the transfer of genetic material. The transfer of that material was made possible because it aided our survival for long enough to allow us to pass our genes on.

If you can accept that and a higher being, kudos, you believe what I do. If you can't I repeat, kudos, I can't speak for you.

My point is in the same quantifiable thousands of years of evolution in humans/mankind is measurable, dogs not so much.

So it's easy to correlate that "evolution" into "special" qualities. Now is that just happenstance, primortal sludge going our way, or a devine design. We don't know, we think either science or religion points respective directions but in truth we just don't know.

It could be one or the other, maybe something we haven't thought of or "discovered" yet, or some combination of those. So we mask this primal ignorance into beliefs; of religion or science or some combination, so we can "explain" the truth we can't even comprehend (or may be ever able to comprehend)

Oh and iirc penguins are the only other mammal having sex for pleasure. Or so scientists say....

We're back off topic.

But, that's not true. There is a ton that the human mind is capable of that no other creature has. Humans, more importantly the human mind is the coolest thing ever.

Bill Nye wouldn't know evidence if it hit him in the face. The fact that people cling to him as a spokesman for "science" is hilarious.

Put this thread in DC where it belongs.

I agree, with the DC part.

No, it hasn't been explained at all. You did a few early posts about the quantifiable measurement of time which did not exist before the big bang:

This doesn't answer the question of how something came out of nothing. Then you say:

Guess what, time and energy (light) and space did not exist before the big bang, so this post does not address how everything came out of nothing. Do you even understand what nothing is?

Here's the same question by another poster:

Then you post this which does not answer the question of the big bang, but is more of a philosophical discussion on how the universe came into existence:

That's pretty, but completely useless. Thanks for nothing, again. Then you post this:

Again, this has nothing to do with how the big bang started. Then there is this 2 hour video which is nothing but conjecture and more philosphical discussion than it is hard science:

This is where Krauss likes to talk about magic, that is, the creation of something (or everything) from nothing. Of couse, this breaks every single scientific law and is complete speculation based more on faith than on facts, hard science and provable theories, it's a discussion on magic. You won't call it that but people like me who have common sense see it for what it is, a discussion on magic.

yep, how can an expanding universe be expanding into nothing?

Sex for pleasure isn't unique to humans by any means. If you include masturbation, there are many many species that participate in sexual pleasure for fun. Porcupines masturbate with sticks. Bonobo females exchange sex for food, prostitution style. Groups of male dolphins often capture a concubine female and continuously rape her up without allowing her to escape. They also capture and rape baby seals sometimes, just for giggles.

All throughout the animal kingdom there are other animals that do most everything that humans do. In most cases, they do it better. The mantis shrimp has eyes that completely put human eyes to shame by a huge huge margin. Most underwater species have better vision that humans. Human strength is nothing compared to other similar sized species. We're slower than most other species.

Every animal is uniquely special in some way. Humans simply have a deeper intellect than others. And if we look back at our evolutionary history, we can even pinpoint the time in the past where we reached that intellect. We can see when we figured out how to use fire, how to use tools, how to hunt using teamwork, etc. The interesting thing is that we can see other species in their own stages of learning these things. We can see other birds and mammals using tools, using teamwork. We can see the process in action.

Humans certainly have a special quality. Just like all the other animals.

Humans can ask questions and have a much, much, much more profound way of communicating. This thread is a perfect example, your post is a perfect example. Humans can talk about things like facts and fiction, reality and magic and ask questions like "where do I come from, how does the universe work?"

There was a time, just a few hundred years ago, when people didn't understand what made humans sick. They blamed it on silly things like punishment from God, witchcraft, contact with dead animals, bad air, etc. Then someone came along and proposed that there were tiny microscopic creatures too small to see, that were invading the human body and causing sickness. This was overwhelmingly met with the same denial you're showing here. People refused to believe it could be possible. There was no proof. It was a discussion on magic.

Yesterday's magic often becomes tomorrow's science.

Humans accumulate knowledge over generations. Learning, not just from own own past, but that of our ancestors is a special thing.

You're talking about god of the gaps.

Other species also communicate directly. Dolphins have names for each other. Elephants have a specific call to warn each other of humans. And surprisingly a specific call to warn of bees. Elephants hate bees. Ants communicate through the use of chemical pheromones, and they display complex colonies where everyone has a specific job function, and they can communicate things like where food is, where danger is, and many more things even we can't understand. You could argue that ants have a more efficient communication method than humans do.

Boy, this thread went from "Wow, cool...science!" to DC in no time.