Without intelligence, currently humans, nothing else exists.

::: Malthus was correct. His time scale was off a bit. A die off is coming. But not the extinction of humans.

We are special because we established the criteria.

You and me ain't nothin but mammals.

You are stating the obvious. No other species can make tools that allow sensory perception or physical capabilities beyond their natural skill set. No other species has communicated and documented thoughts that demonstrate the scope of intellect and imagination we have. No other species can travel beyond the planet.

Yes, we are momentarily holding the gold at the special olympics.

One definition of special is "noteworthy" - in which case, I would say yes, humans are special. Humans are, without a doubt, a very interesting and noteworthy species.

Special, used as an adjective, is a judgment made by humans. The fact that humans can make that judgment makes them special animals. Humans have the capacity to form concepts, reason, use logic, and think long term, which makes them special animals. Aristotle figured that out over 2300 years ago, when he defined man as, "the rational animal."

I think that our ideas of being special come from religion. Without that we are just a destructive mammal species.

I disagree that humans are anything special, particularly because the (implied) definition of "special" is biased toward humans. Until we have a well-understood body of research of life on other planets, including intellegent life, there is no clear way to define how "special" we are.

I’d be interested to hear from someone more knowledgeable, but I thought humans and dolphins and maybe gorillas were the only mammals with a prefrontal cortex enabling higher brain function. True?

"human language is extremely flexible in contrast to communication of other species." - how do you know? Can you speak elephant, whale, or dolphin?

That does not make us special. It makes us different -- and too often capable of great destruction.

We are both special and just another mammal species. You can point to all kinds of special attributes in nearly all species. That you chose your specific criteria is just your human bias.

Ants and cockroaches are pretty special too.

And they tick a lot of those boxes too. Except they do it without destroying the planet they live on in the process. Now that is special.

Special? Weren't dinosaurs the same way, special for a while? After we help destroy things, maybe in a few hundred million years little mini me versions of simian like animals will still exist.

I don't think humans are special, we adapt to our environment according to our abilities just like any other animals... And just to point this out, humans created the category mammals ... It is really a good category considering it includes sea life and humans as.members lol