For the EP paper that I've just handed in, I chose to do a topic that examined the most significant attribute that distinguishes us humans from animals. The attribute I chose is the conceptual-self awareness ability.

The conceptual-self is essentially the "symbolic-self", meaning that we possess certain cognitive mechanisms that enable us to think of ourselves and everything around us in an abstract, hypothetical sense. It is the basis for our ability to be creative and innovative, excelling in aesthetics, technology and language. All these can't be found in animals, hence is probably the single, most important attribute that seperates us from animals.

Really, the possession of the conceptual self is most probably also the cognition that has enabled us to out-survive all the other hominids (species of humans) that existed. The "cultural big bang" which was found in Homo-sapiens (our sceintific name, just in case) some 40,000 years ago saw the sudden development of art, body adornment, complex structures like boats and shelters and ritualistic burials, all of which needed the ability to think in very abstract terms (like life and death, symbols...). In contrast, another species of hominids, the Neanderthals, which co-existed with us for a period of time, showed no such progress. In fact, the sudden extinction of the Neanderthals coincided with the period of the cultural big bang.

So I guess the reason for our rapid development in technology and culture stem from this unusual evolution of our brains. Experts do not yet know what led to this adaptation, but what is certain is that with this capacity, we have gone on to alter our enviornment to further enhance our survival fitness. Blessed with this ability for abstract thinking, we become afraid of death. Because of our need and want for new knowledge, we become aware of the species that come and go from the face of this earth. Because we know all of these, we use our knowledge to prevent the same fate from falling upon us.

Here's the twist - Our wonderful cognitive capacities are probably gonna be the ones that ultimately cause our extinction.

Overheard an auntie talking to her friend in the canteen, and she was lamenting the events that have occured over the past years - dengue, bird flu, London bombings, Hurricane Katrina, Bali bombings, and the most recent earthquake in East Asia. And that's not all. Remember SARS? 9/11? Madrid bombings? Beslan Seige? AIDS?

With our advanced brains, we create ideologies that lead people to kill others and cause massive destruction emotionally and ecologically. We want to feel worthy and belonged, hence we create boundaries, imagined and physical, and create distinctions among people based on unfounded grounds. We expand too quickly with medical and technological advance, leading to swelling populations and this in turn leads to the need for more and more natural resources like land, trees, water, animals and we take them selfishly without giving back. Global warming, more and more serious natural disasters, depletion of fresh water and forests, the near extinction of numerous animals... Which of these are not the result of human intervention?

Mother Nature is fighting back. The mysterious workings of natural selection is turning this wonderful adaptation against ourselves.