Are we the sole possessors of the seed of self awareness? Some would say dolphins also posses this awareness as do other marine mammals. May be we are not the smartest but the most aggressive.

Do they know the answer? Most aggressive? I'm not so certain. But we're up there.

I've had cats look embarrassed. Couldn't see under all that fur for the blushes, but the body language was obvious. To become embarrassed, one must not only have self-awareness, but a perception of other people's reaction to your actions.

Don, I think the human species is notable for being aggressive to the point of extinction of its own kind. While there are undoubtedly other animals who will hunt to kill their own species, they don't seem to do so en masse.

Possibly *we* are the aliens to Earth?

I remember reading an article regarding studies of our sleep habits, indicating that if all exterior influences were neutralized, the human body would gradually adapt a circadian rhythm of 25½ to 26 hours... far longer than can be accounted for in the normal course of global evolution and obviously quite out of rhythm of the present day length.

It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars and so on -- whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man -- for precisely the same reasons

Douglas Adams

LOL. Good one. And I am completely open to all theories, unlike me usually.

I do have one opinion, however, and that is all satient animals have emotions. I always thought it egotistical that humans would think it's their own territory. They ascribe that what some call emotions in animals are merely patterned responses. Well, if it is so in animals, it's also so in humans then.

I have witnessed too many actions from animals not to think they don't feel the same things we do. I have seen animals sacrifice their own lives for their offspring, against all common sense. I have seen a mother racoon put herself at risk to keep vigil over a pup caught in a live-trap and heard he pitiful wails, and that of another pup who circled the trap for hours. I had to sneak out and open the door and release it and the mother came out of hiding and off all three of them went to ruin my garden at a later date. LOL.

I have gathered eggs from new hens, and the pitiful screams and panicked gazes coming from them cut me to the quick. I don't think a human response would have differed all that much.

I have watch the young of every species imaginable "playing" and to say they weren't enjoying it would be silly. They were doing it for the sheer fun of it.

I've also watched animals grieve, and nurture with much tenderness. Life is life and the spark is universal and common.

Animals absolutely, surely, certainly do have emotions. I'm not nearly as sure that human egocentric thoughts aline in the manner: "they're not nearly as good as I am, so they can't have emotions". It's could be more along the lines of being unable to communicate with them well enough to know, a lack of understanding. At least that's what I think it could be, but who am I to say?

Back to aliens-I heard a theory that the Earth is a prison and insane asylum for the other galaxies. Think about it a little- it makes sense. The daily news shows it.

HA! That's what hubby said. He says aliens use earth as a penal colony.

I certainly like the prison theory. But *this* one resonates with me, too: I read that it's mainly new souls being born onto this planet over the last few decades. Just like any newborn, they have no clue about anything and no sense of others...they just go banging about. This would explain the madness we see on the nightly news.

Karen (who is certain she's not among the smartest of life forms on this or any other planet)

Hey Karen, it's really nice seeing you post again.

One of my friends had one of her horses die, when she looked at his equine best friend the other horse had tears running down his face.

It has been said that we are the Black Sheep of the Universe.

Yes Calliope, if you can picture me running around the back yard, in my robe, at three in the morning, with a koi net, trying to catch a treed raccoon pup, while the mother and other two pups are banging the have-a-heart trap around trying to get the fourth pup out.

We finally gave up and let them all loose to eat the fish in the pond. Better to just go back to sleep and chalk it up to too much development in the area taking their habitat away. They had already eaten all but three fish any way.

I concur with the notion the life here is an experiment started by aliens that has lately gone awry. It will soon revert back to bacteria and single celled life forms to evolve into something altogether different. Perhaps the insects will dominate next.

Ummm, Don, here in the South the Insects dominate already. Ever seen the size that Palmetto bugs reach? Mosquitoes in the deep South are know to carry off small animals.

A cosmic experiment? Perhaps and possible. If this one fails, if we destroy ourselves, there will be another some million, billion, years ahead.

Perhaps the next one will have some some kind of guidelines, feedback from this one. But I expect it's it will be like parenthood. No trial runs.

That future intelligences may look for feedback makes me think of time capsules, and of the Rosetta Stone. The part that really strikes me is that apparently the skill of reading hieroglyphics was completely forgotten in about a hundred years... and while I was reading some geneology articles, one commented that few people today can read the handwritten German of the 1800's. Possibly it's not only the Roman conquerors who made hieroglyphics extinct, but time itself seems to require only a century. After all, a century is a mere blink in the geological timeline.

Here is a link that might be useful: rosetta stone

Don, the fish saga. I can relate. When we first put in our pond after tearing out the spring fed cattle trough, we traveled half way across the state to hand pick fancy fish. rofl. After watching them disappear one by one they were replaced with "feeder fish" from the box stores. Those poor little things raised to give to carnivorous fish instead of pellets. Those twenty cent specials cross bred with the fancies and it's been fun to watch over the years all the different shapes/sizes/fin configurations of the offspring. Some of them are large enough they'd meet legal limits for a pole. LOL.

Funny thing is, I've never seen a coon at the pond. The tomcat sits and gazes longingly, a heron will come perch now and again, but never tried to catch one.

As for culture disappearing over a relatively short period of time, how true it is. I went to a financial planning dinner once and the speaker asked how many of us could name all eight of our great grandparents. I was the only one in the room who could. That struck me dumb. What person doesn't expect to at least be remembered by their ancestors to the children of their grandchildren? But, most aren't.

I do genealogical research for others on a volunteer basis, or did when I had the time for it, and one of it was taking off Church records written in old German script. Many of those in our community were members of German speaking churches, including a few of my kin. And it was the proverbial brick wall they ran into. One of my instructors in University insisted we learn it for research purposes and it was one of those things one thinks "yeah, and when I am ever going to use this in my life?" and ends up doing it, only it had nothing to do with chemistry. LOL.