Jonicus Maximus writes:
if I were an alien with a completely different set of DNA than all you people, would you stop calling me human?
Yes. You'd be an alien. You'd be equally as special as a human, seeing as you do everything we do and, presumably, think as we do. But you wouldn't be human. I think the closest you'd get is "person". I'd still call you a "he" rather than an "it", but I wouldn't say human.
Interestingly, this brings up the point of whether a person needs to be human. Just because all the 'persons' we know are probably human, doesn't mean they need to be, in my opinion. But then again, my favourite story of all time is
The Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov (about a robot/man who wants to be declared a 'man', rather than a robot).
Edited by Doddy, : fixed formatting...didn't notice it was wrong
"Der Mensch kann was er will; er kann aber nicht wollen was er will." (Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills.) - Arthur Schopenhauer
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