WHAT MAKE US HUMAN

TEXT 1

This is a big question, but one answer covers it all: we ask questions. There are quite
a few human languages – Latin and Irish among them – that don’t have words for
“yes” or “no” – but every language on earth has a word for “why”.

Why is this? Why are we the only species on earth that is concerned about things
that don’t directly concern our survival or that of our offspring? Porcupines do not
look up at the night sky and wonder what all the sparkly bits are; weasels don’t
worry about what other weasels think of them; lobsters really don’t enjoy pub
quizzes.

When my son was about 14 I was trying to explain what a hydrogen atom is like. The
fact that we have any idea at all is, in itself, an extraordinary testament to human
curiosity. People have been wondering what stuff is made of since the beginning of
time. Antelopes, by contrast, haven’t. And no antelope has ever expressed what
Harry said next: “Dad, why is there something and not nothing?” This is a question
first posed by the German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz, often said to be the last
man in history who knew everything that could then be known. But he didn’t
know that, it seems.

JOHN LLOYD - New Statesman PUBLISHED 1 AUGUST, 2014

http://www.newstatesman.com/2014/07/what-makes-us-human-our-innate-
curiosity-and-our-ability-laugh