What makes humans different?

There seem to be plenty of reasons to believe that we humans are significantly different from all other creatures on earth. There is the evidence of our technology; there is the body of our written and spoken communications, musings, conversations; there are our many governments, and forms of government, the expanding levels of cooperation in governments and religions. There is also our our growing influence on the other forms of life on earth, as well as our awareness of those lifeforms and of (some of) our affects on them. But I consider all of these things to be evidences of our difference, not the difference itself, and I have been thinking about what that actual difference might be.

I look at this question from a sort of evolutionary perspective: In many ways, we are just like other mammals, and especially like certain apes. All of God's creatures including us, have evolved. "Natural selection" is the force that has led to there being constant strengthening of species, and to the various creatures staying in balance with one another.

A definition from Wikipedia: "Natural selection is the process by which those heritable traits that make it more likely for an organism to survive and successfully reproduce become more common in a population over successive generations."

Some of those "heritable traits" seem to be behavioral as well as anatomical and physiological. So, we have inherited from our distant ansestors various anatomical, physiological, and behavioral traits that, in the context where they developed, contributed to the survival of the species. Primate studies have shown that in the great apes, our nearest biological relatives, individuals have personalities, and between groups there are variations in culture.

But where we humans differ is in what some call our "intellect" but which I believe is more our "creativity". We are able to conceive of things to create, and of new courses of action to follow that are far outside the norms for our "tribe" or culture. We are not hardwired to act mainly in ways that tend to promote the survival of the species. Our arts, our complex spoken and written language, our science and technology, the many different groups and associations that we form, and all that I mentioned at the top of the page are made possible by this creative spark. But this creativity also make possible such things as worry, torture, wars, and weapons of war, pollution, destruction of habitats and biomes, and other acts and activities that are decidedly counter to the survival of our species and of the rest of life on earth.

We are still influenced by our inherited, primate, "animal" drives (hunger, fear, lust, desire for power, anger, envy, etc.), and we develop many automatic ways of dealing with various situations. We act as humans to the extent that we creatively apply our intellects to overcome our instincts and habits when some other behavior would be better. Most of the time most people do not even realize that they have a choice to act differently than "they always have." But we do have choices about how to react when something happens: something like a bad day, or an insult, or an impending car crash, or a loved one dying, or your house catching fire, or your city being shaken to pieces by an earthquake. What will motivate and guide you when you make these choices?

And if you are in a position of power or leadership: head of household, business owner, head of research and development, CEO, president of the United States, or the Catholic Pope, what will guide the choices and decisions that you will make?

In passage CXXII from "Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh" we read:

"Man is the supreme Talisman. Lack of a proper education hath, however, deprived him of that which he doth inherently possess. Through a word proceeding out of the mouth of God he was called into being; by one word more he was guided to recognize the Source of his education; by yet another word his station and destiny were safeguarded. The Great Being saith: Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom. If any man were to meditate on that which the Scriptures, sent down from the heaven of God’s holy Will, have revealed, he would readily recognize that their purpose is that all men shall be regarded as one soul, so that the seal bearing the words “The Kingdom shall be God’s” may be stamped on every heart, and the light of Divine bounty, of grace, and mercy may envelop all mankind."