jaywill writes:
My two kids are grown in and in their upper 20s and low 30s now.
I started out telling them that a ant was a higher being than a germ, a mouse was a higher being then an ant, a chimp was a higher being then a mouse, and a human being was a higher being then a chimp.
Then I told them that I just believe in one more higher being then the atheist does.
Can I point out that, when it comes to animals, that isn't what "higher" is supposed to mean?
A chimp and a human are very, very close to each other genetically - a chimp is stronger, can move faster through it's own environment...but it's not quite so clever as a human. Why though is a human "higher" than a chimp?
Mice are also very genetically similar to humans - rats infact can eat toxins that would kill a human stone dead, chew through steel and lift comparably heavier items. They're also smaller.
Is physical size what makes things "higher"?
And an ant, well, it can lift many times it's own weight, is armoured, has jaws with a vice-like grip we find difficult to replicate with even modern machinery, it builds cities the equivalent of miles high sky-scrapers with low-energy air-conditioning...but yeah, it's a bug.
But why is it "lower" ? Is it only because it's smaller?
Is your god, then, a bigger human? I mean I know the bible describes fearsome creatures with six wings, eyes all over their body, four faces and a countenance and voice so terrible that mortal man cannot bear the sight...but whilst we find evidence of mice, rats, ants, chimps and humans, I have yet to see such a creature as the bible describes (which may be all the better for me, I like my insides inside and prefer what's left of my sanity remain with me).
But still, I debate your idea of "higher". smarter, yes - we're smarter. but "higher"?
It's not that I think a human is "worth only as much as an ant", it's that i don't fully agree with your obviously biased viewpoint that, being a human, humans are better than X and therefore "higher", and that such arbitrary labels are slapped all over the animal kingdom because of criteria that are..well...arbitrary.
And finally, if we find a...super-human of some sort - how do we know it's god? I'm quite sure that the zorblaxians are quite convinced that with their five arms and four legs, ability to breathe underwater, two hearts, near-total memory recall and lifespan of six-hundred years are "higher" than humans...but would you agree? would that make them god?
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