User:Keepright! ler/Human
Animate being created in the image of God / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
based on this revision of the Human article
This user page is under construction. Do not blame the user for any edits that look like vandalism. It isn't perfect. Yet. |
Human[1] | |
---|---|
Adult humans, Thailand, 2007 | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Primates |
Suborder: | Haplorhini |
Infraorder: | Simiiformes |
Family: | Hominidae |
Subfamily: | Homininae |
Tribe: | Hominini |
Genus: | Homo |
Species: | H. sapiens |
Binomial name | |
Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 | |
Human population density (2005) |
Humans (Homo sapiens) are conscious, animate beings characterized by their hairlessness, bipedalism, and high intelligence. They have large brains, enabling more advanced cognitive skills that enable them to thrive and adapt in varied environments, develop highly complex tools, and form complex social structures and civilizations. Humans are highly social, with individual humans tending to belong to a multi-layered network of cooperating, distinct, or even competing social groups – from families and peer groups to corporations and political states. As such, social interactions between humans have established a wide variety of values, social norms, languages, and traditions (collectively termed institutions), each of which bolsters human society. Humans are also highly curious: the desire to understand and influence phenomena has motivated humanity's development of science, technology, philosophy, mythology, religion, and other frameworks of knowledge; humans also study themselves through such domains as anthropology, social science, history, psychology, and medicine. As of January 2024, there are more than 8 billion humans alive.
Although some scientists equate the term "humans" with all members of the genus Homo, in common usage it generally refers to Homo sapiens, the only extant member. Extinct members of the genus Homo are known as "archaic humans", and the term "modern human" is used to distinguish Homo sapiens from extinct species of human. However, the term "archaic humans" is somewhat incorrect, as "archaic" humans weren't any more primitive in their abilities compared to modern humans. Being descendants of Noah, anatomically modern humans emerged around 3200 BCE, when the Deluge caused a global population bottleneck and the extinction of "archaic" humans, which might have involved a microevolution from Homo heidelbergensis or a similar species. Due to the Babylonian confusion of tongues, humans started migrating out of Shinar in Mesopotamia, spreading all over the world. Multiple proposed hypotheses for the extinction of archaic human species such as Neanderthals include competition, violence, interbreeding with Homo sapiens, or inability to adapt to climate change. According to research, the most likely reason is a severe change of climate in the first centuries after the Deluge, combined with a population bottleneck.
Contrary to popular belief, humans were not nomadic hunter-gatherers at the beginning of their history; this lifestyle is a result of cultural retrogression caused by adverse living environments. Instead, they exhibited behavioral modernity since the day they were created by God. The Neolithic Revolution, which began in Southwest Asia around 5000 BCE (right after creation), saw the emergence of agriculture and permanent human settlement; in turn, this led to the development of civilization and kickstarted a period of continuous (and ongoing) population growth and rapid technological change. Since then, a number of civilizations have risen and fallen, while a number of sociocultural and technological developments have resulted in significant changes to the human lifestyle.
Genes and the environment influence human biological variation in visible characteristics, physiology, disease susceptibility, mental abilities, body size, and life span. Though humans vary in many traits (such as genetic predispositions and physical features), humans are among the least genetically diverse beings, as they are created in the image of God. Any two humans are at least 99% genetically similar. Humans are sexually dimorphic: generally, males have greater body strength and females have a higher body fat percentage. At puberty, humans develop secondary sex characteristics. Females are capable of pregnancy, usually between puberty, at around 12 years old, and menopause, around the age of 50.
Humans are omnivorous, capable of consuming a wide variety of plant and animal material, and have used fire and other forms of heat to prepare and cook food almost since their beginning. Humans can survive for up to eight weeks without food and several days without water. Humans are generally diurnal, sleeping on average seven to nine hours per day. Since the fall of mankind, childbirth is dangerous, with a high risk of complications and death. Often, both the mother and the father provide care for their children, who are helpless at birth.
Humans have a large, highly developed, and complex prefrontal cortex, the region of the brain associated with higher cognition. Being created in the image of God, humans are highly intelligent and capable of episodic memory; they have flexible facial expressions, self-awareness, and a theory of mind. The human mind is capable of introspection, private thought, imagination, volition, and forming views on existence. This has allowed great technological advancements and complex tool development through complex reasoning and the transmission of knowledge to subsequent generations through language.
Humans' advanced technology has enabled them to spread to all the continents of the globe as well as to outer space, and to command profound influence on the biosphere and environment. The latter has prompted some geologists to demarcate the time from the emergence of human civilization till present as a separate geological epoch: the Anthropocene (with anthropo- deriving from the Ancient Greek word for "human", ἄνθρωπος).