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I repeat - it's a real lack of understanding. I don't mean to be a jerk or use argumentative tactics, but I genuinely don't understand what people mean by 'human' when they have this discussion. If you mean biological, baseline human then I disagree. As I and others have pointed out throughout this thread, we're already far away enough from our ancestors to make that distinction meaningless in my view.
I'll give it a shot. To me the essence of humanity doesn't rely on anything biological - bipedalism or our omnivorus nature have nothing to do with it. You could say the core of being human, what separates us from the animals, is a sort of curiosity and indomitable will. I don't mean the Will to Power, just the ability to persevere in the face of long odds.
Our ancestors who were most human in this view were the ones who tamed fire, who created stone tools. Those who domesticated crops and animals, who painted in caves and build temples to their deities. Technology is a natural outflowing of curiosity, it makes use of the knowledge you've gained and allowing you to gain more.
Out of all of the life we see on the planet, humans are the only ones who have this divine spark - this is why to the Greeks, Prometheus was the one who gave us the great gift of fire, of knowledge. This doesn't mean technology is always good, but it can be used for good. And so far we've done a great job on the whole.
Even if we reach @self_made_human's future where our minds are uploaded and we live on a server farm on Mars, I'll still consider us human if we keep to our curiosity and will to overcome challenges. Ultimately our main goal has been, and should be, to defeat the Great Enemy - Death itself. All other concerns are secondary, and if you dig deep enough, the core truth of most things can be resolved into the drive to avoid death, convert entropy to order, or some other formulation.
I'll make it clear that I don't see this is a totalizing moral vision. I also care deeply about love, charity, forgiveness, and other moral traits. That being said, I also don't see humans as inherently good or bad. I'd be curious if this satisfies your idea of a definition.
I'd imagine being human is far different in your opinion!
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