The Incredible Facets of Being What Does It Mean To Be Human

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

a star

studied panel of scientists gathers

annually to discuss

heady themes at the world science

festival

several years ago the question on the

table was what does it mean to be human

the same question has been asked by the

smithsonian’s institute

i’ve woven about eight to nine of the

presenters answers in sound byte form

into my presentation they were all

brilliant subject matter

experts by the way so here’s my go at

helping us to understand how awesome we

really are

to be human means that we are effective

beings

and as such we are able to process

regulating

emotional states and for the elicitation

of emotional reactions

we are also auditory beings

the feature that makes us human that is

vastly different from animals

is quite complex because we do not only

hear with our ears we hear with our

heart

we are able to detect innuendos uncover

the meaning behind the most obscure

statements and hear the emotions that

are driving a word

utter we are authentic beings

this above all to thy own self be true

and it must follow as the night the day

thou canst not

then be false to any man this is

polonius act one

scene three the tragedy of hamlet by

william shakespeare

we are biochemical beings the human

being

that marvelous machine precise and

efficient

elegant and awe-inspiring is a dynamic

framework of bone and cartilage

called the skeleton with hinges and

joints that

were made to move to mitigate

harmful friction such as moving parts

must be lubricated obviously so man-made

machines are lubricated only by

outside sources but the body

fantastically

lubricates itself by its own innate

manufacturing company

which produces a jelly-like substance

in the right amount at every place it is

needed

we are bioelectrical beings

the electrons and atoms in your body are

not just

cellular constituents or particles of

matter within the body but

waves of living energy einstein said e

equals m c

squared and that’s true one theory is

postulated that if the electronic energy

of the

hydrogen atoms alone in the human body

could be utilized a single person could

supply the electrical

needs of a large highly industrialized

country

for nearly a week that’s fantastic it’s

amazing to me

we are physical beings with our five

physical senses working

optimally we are able to move through

time and

navigate this terra firma because of the

beautifully and intelligently designed

body we are cognitive beings

daniel danette cognitive scientist said

we are the first species that represents

our reasons

and can reason with each other

the planet has grown a nervous system he

said

the brain is the center of a complex

computer system more wonderful

than the greatest one ever built by man

we

are complex beings to say that we

understand someone

is to deny the complexity of every human

being

we are also conscious beings the human

mind

not to be confused with the human brain

has

fascinated sciences and philosophers and

theologians for

centuries the mind a-local

and non-physical can be broken into

three categories

the conscious mind the subconscious mind

and the super conscious mind

we are a corporal being we are body

electric indeed we are creative beings

an act of creativity can be memento and

or inspiring such as

creating a beautiful painting or

building a spaceship that

takes us to mars or an innovative new

technology we are credible beings

i call this the art of ethics and

morality

we are cultural beings we have cultures

which

are ways of transmitting information

molded by the skillful hands of culture

we are educated

socialized and recognized

we are dynamic beings we are both

creator and creature

sinner and savior our perpetrator and

victim

conquered and conquered we are living

yet dying

that’s how dynamic we really are

we are embodied beings our mind

souls spirit emotions are all hosted and

housed in a body

the body is not you but only gives you

permission to live in time and operate

in a space we are more than our bodies

because the body only becomes animated

by

the non-physical forces that cannot be

seen by the human eye but

finds full expression of itself when it

becomes one

with the body it controls we are

emotional beings

our emotions are like a spectrum of

colors

that is both biochemical and

bioelectrical tools for self-awareness

and

we are enterprising beings take

innovation and creativity add a healthy

heaping

of risk and a drive to make things

better

and you will get enterprising

individuals

we are entrepreneurial beings we are

about doing the business called life

we are eternal beings we may lose our

bodies but

what remains is our soul and spirit we

are ethical beings john does paso’s

makes an inquiring into the psyche of

the human beings he acts

why do some people lie what is

right or wrong and who gets to declare

something is right or wrong

the mind cannot support moral chaos for

law

men are under as strong a compulsion to

invent an ethical setting for their

behaviors

as spiders are to weave themselves webs

we

are genetic beings francis collins

geneticist

says what does the genome tell us

there’s surprisingly little genetic

difference between a human and

chimpanzees yet

clearly we’re different we are god-like

beings

we are graced with a god-like ability to

transcend time and space in our minds

and

use the faculty of imagination to create

things that

are not impoverible and impossible

to those minds who do not believe henry

miller said imagination is the voice of

daring if there is anything god like

about god

it is that he dare to imagine everything

and a quote and so can we we

are gustatory beings we feel things in

our belly

like the punch in the belly mistake you

make or the

queasy feeling that something is wrong

with your child

or that feeling deep within that when

you get someone that is lying for

instance

and that hits you when especially

someone makes an angry remark and then

slams the door

and they make that remark that is below

the belt

that is what gustatory is all about we

are

hormonal beings this is the work of the

endocrine system which is made up of

glands that produce hormones and

release them into uh the blood a

work that is so magnificent when i think

about it the hormones cause certain

reactions to occur

in specific tissues the endocrine system

affects a large number of the body

functions including

temperature and metabolism and sexual

function and

reproduction and moods and growth and

development

we are innovative beings how did the

phone get smart it got smart through

innovation

someone saw a different way of

communicating and created something that

we

have never seen innovation is the art of

seeing a better and more

efficient tomorrow innovators have

an uncanny ability to peer into the

future and to

convince us that we can live there we

are intellectual beings

a person whose life and work revolves

around the study

or use of ideas such as in

teaching or writing is called an

intellect robert

louis stevenson an intellect himself

said

to be wholly devoted to some

intellectual exercise

is to have succeeded in life

we are intelligent beings in 1983

an american developmental psychologist

howard gardner

described nine types of intelligence we

are

kinesthetic names have you ever had

goosebumps on your arms by listening to

a beautiful song

or just by hearing the voice of someone

who

deeply loves you tell you that they do

that is the simple way of explaining

the catastrophic being we

are miraculous beings rene pira

embryologist said we’re uniquely

human from the moment the egg and the

sperm chooses

a human program begins before the brain

even begins to form

we are moral beings g.k chesterton

said or like morality or in this

instance morality like art

consists of drawing the line somewhere

we are neurological beings geography is

to the earth what

neurology is to the brain we are old

factory

beings the sense of smell have you ever

heard of the saying i smell a rat

that means that what the eye misses the

sense of smell

picks up we’re ontological beings

according to the merriam-webster’s

dictionary ontology is a very concerned

with

the nature and relation of beings we are

passionate beings i believe that life is

all about

being excited about something like i’m

excited about this

we see it naturally expressed in

children

seeing passion and enthusiasm helps

accelerate

growth progress and success it gives us

something to look forward to

and to being motivated we

are philosophical beings

this is a character that is not just

about the fields of studies such as

skepticism and hedonism and

nihilism it’s about your personal

philosophy

it’s about how you show up in life and

the values you bring

to your relationship your job in the

world

we’re physical beings dr weiner

geek said without a doubt the most

complex

information processing system in

existence is the human body

we are potent beings potential is a

superpower and it comes from

the word potent which is a latin

potentia which means power in might and

force

figuratively it means political power

authority or

influence so to simplify this context

i want to look at one of the most

powerful elements

in nature which is the seed and if i

howl the seed in my hand and ask the

average person

what do i have in my hand they would

probably say a seed

but that’s obvious when we look at

potential however

if you understand the nature of the seed

your answer would be you’re actually

holding

a bullet and so that’s what potential is

all about

we are problem solving beings problem

solvers are first

problem discoverers and we all have

discovered our ample share of them

we are also procreative beings we’re

productive beings we’re progressive

beings

walt disney said we keep moving forward

opening new doors and doing new things

because

we’re curious and curiosity keeps

leading us

down new paths we’re

rational beings doug cooper said

rationalization is

foreplay to the human conscience we’re

relational beings we relate with

everything around us we relate to other

people we relate to nature

we relate to animals we relate to money

even

our inanimate and imaginary objects

we relate to it so who we are

as relational beings is about

connections and cooperation and

communication

and rapport we are reproductive beings

reproduction is about succession and

survival

we are resilient beings we are wired to

overcome almost anything

like soot that becomes a diamond a worm

that becomes a butterfly we rise up

out of the ash heat as a phoenix in the

sky

we are retrospective beings we are

selective beings we are creatures who

look for variety we are self-centered

beings we are the sun in our own

universe

we are sentient beings sentience is

about

sense perception without the use of

intelligence or

mental perception driven by feelings as

opposed to

perception or thought we are serious

beings

not everything in life is fun and games

life is to be enjoyed yes but there is

always a time when laughter and pleasure

is inappropriate because

life itself is serious business

we are sexual beings that’s the fun

stuff that adults call

birds and bees activities children find

the virgin bees conversation confusing

even for darwin the father of evolution

sex was confusion he wrote in 1862

we do not even in the least know the

final cause

of sexuality why new beings should be

produced by the union of two sexual

elements the whole subject

is as yet hidden in darkness

we are social beings we are made for

community

able to create communities able to

communicate with others we are speaking

beings we

communicate our thoughts our feelings

our desires with language

we are spiritual beings we are not just

corporal or physical beings we are souls

who have a spirit

living in a body we’re thinking beings

renee descartes

said i think therefore i am plato said

thinking is the talking of the soul with

itself

we are unique beings in tyrosols

anthropologists said it is not what

is human but what is unique

we are visual beings this also

is the acuity of the mind and the heart

we are volitional beings life is made up

of the some

choices we make and finally

we are well creating beings

in the days to come we will discover

that wealth is not limited to

how much money we accumulate but how we

together

are able to find harmony in our

diversity

and to know that we are much wealthier

together than we are apart

so let us push for our collective

destiny

our commonwealth irrespective of race

color ethnicity or creed because that’s

what being human is all about