What is a human being? (quote)

[BaconCheeseburger]

I'm doing an online course, an introduction to Humanism, and the topic I'm on at the moment is discussing the humanism approach to questions like 'what am I?' , 'where did I come from?', and this interesting quote has just come up;

"'Our entire bodies and brains are made of a few dollars' worth of common elements: oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, enough calcium to whitewash a chicken coop, sufficient iron to make a two‐inch nail, phosphorous to tip a good number of matches, enough sulphur to dust a flea‐plagued dog, together with modest amounts of potassium, chlorine, magnesium and sodium. Assemble them all in the right proportion, build the whole into an intricate interacting system, and the result is our feeling, thinking, striving, imagining, creative selves. Such ordinary elements; such extraordinary results!'"
James Hemming

What do you all think of it? I quite like it

 

[nzdarkshark]

I'm not extraordinary but it's an interesting concept :)

 

[Justanotherconsumer]

I like it, it makes you think.

 

[Schopenhauer]

I agree with the sentiment.

We're all extraordinary, in the sense that a bunch of simple elements can make such staggeringly complex organism. The human brain is the most complex artifact in the universe (modulo the discovery of more advanced aliens, of course).

But being individually extraordinary is another matter. Most of this amazing complexity is encoded in the DNA molecule, as it replicates and develops into a full-fledged organism, interacting with with its environment (broadly construed). Even a complete moron can generate offspring, so it's no big deal. We're products of replicator molecule + natural selection + time.

 

[AveryConure]

I thought they all were a miserable pile of secrets.

 

[TAW122]

I like this quote. It is really true and quite literally what creates a human being.

 

[Lra888]

I'm doing an online course, an introduction to Humanism, and the topic I'm on at the moment is discussing the humanism approach to questions like 'what am I?' , 'where did I come from?', and this interesting quote has just come up;

"'Our entire bodies and brains are made of a few dollars' worth of common elements: oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, enough calcium to whitewash a chicken coop, sufficient iron to make a two‐inch nail, phosphorous to tip a good number of matches, enough sulphur to dust a flea‐plagued dog, together with modest amounts of potassium, chlorine, magnesium and sodium. Assemble them all in the right proportion, build the whole into an intricate interacting system, and the result is our feeling, thinking, striving, imagining, creative selves. Such ordinary elements; such extraordinary results!'"
James Hemming

What do you all think of it? I quite like it

I kind of disagree with it. We aren't just material. Human life has consciousness which scientists only have theories about. The above quote equates human life including the mind with a collection of elements. A pile of random substances will not become self aware. The consciousness is above all of that.

This is the reason why I can believe in the afterlife or reincarnation. Because the mind has nothing to do with simple material things. The mind creates and influences the material world.

*i typed this while very drunk

 

[Lra888]

It's like if I say that this iPhone I'm typing on is the same as some broken pieces of glass, some melted plastic and some metal. Separate it costs nothing and is pretty worthless but when organized and arranged in such a specific way by intelligence and creativity and powered it becomes something much different than "a 25cent pile of glass, plastic and metal".

 

[Kdawg2018]

We r all in a simulation, inside a simulation, of a simulation