To learn more about what makes human beings such a unique species, we reached out to clinical psychologist Leon F. Seltzer, PhD, who was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda.
"Non-human mammals have only an incipient notion of morality, relating to protecting, specifically, members of their own family and, more generally, their species, against other species," Dr. Seltzer explained.
He also recommended checking out the work of Loretta Breuning, who has written many books on this topic.
We were also curious if Dr. Seltzer was aware of any human behaviors that we consider normal but are actually quite bizarre if we think about them.
"I'd agree that altruism as correctly defined (often it isn't) is a human phenomenon that benefits the self-sacrificer only in satisfying their personal moral dictates," the expert shared. "That is, there's no survival in their actions."
We also asked Dr. Seltzer if human beings are constantly coming up with new things to do or if we're getting to a point where it's all been done before. "It all relates to brain chemistry. What invokes our so-called 'happy chemicals' (Breuning yet again) is doing something not routine but novel where the reward of such behavior isn't yet assured," he explained.
"Once something becomes habitual, it's no longer able to lift our spirits, to improve our mood or state of mind, so we look for something new. This explains why polygamy, for example, is so common— cross-culturally and historically," Dr. Seltzer continued.
"Humans can act immorally or amorally in ways that animals with far less intelligence couldn't even contemplate doing," Dr. Seltzer added. "So, ethically speaking, humans can be better and much worse than animals."
As a human being, I’m sure you’re familiar with the idea that we’re a pretty bizarre species. Yes, we’re used to one another, and we accept the social norms that we’ve created. But we’re all individuals, and plenty of us are just downright strange. That’s why we love the Humans Doing Human Things Facebook page. This account celebrates the absurdity and chaos of being a person. And clearly, it’s beloved by many, as it’s amassed over 139k followers since its creation in 2021.
From people wearing bikinis in the snow to getting hairstyles that look incredibly similar to pineapples, there is truly no limit to what human beings can do. And apparently, we have the creativity to keep innovating and coming up with even more bizarre and hilarious behavior to exhibit.
Now, we’re not the only species that does comically odd things. I’ve seen my cat make countless hilarious faces and sounds, and his behavior is not always predictable. But we humans are unique in the way that we have free will and an extremely complex communication system. As long as the technology exists, anything that we can imagine, we can turn into a reality.
Robert Roy Britt wrote a piece for Live Science discussing why human beings are arguably the strangest species, and he brings attention to a variety of the bizarre things we tend to do. We lie, cheat, fall in love, kiss, and blush. We also have odd features such as fingernails, an appendix, an Adam’s apple and curly pubic hair. Many of us even part our hair, crack our knuckles, get goose bumps and shiver when we’re cold.
Humans can be tickled, but we can’t tickle ourselves. We can do gross things like burp, fart, itch and smell terrible, and we often struggle to find a lover or life partner. We love telling stories, spreading urban legends and discussing conspiracy theories. But we don’t completely understand our own consciousness. We yawn, sleep, get hiccups, dream, snore, laugh, cry and procrastinate. And we often get drowsy after eating but then can’t fall asleep at night when we actually want to. We grind our teeth, experience stress and anxiety, choose to be monogamous in relationships and work hard at our jobs, even if we aren’t being compensated well.
We’re a brilliant species who have created countless pieces of technology and can perform open-heart surgery to save lives, yet we often forget where we’ve set our keys down and can easily be sucked down the rabbit hole of social media for hours. We experience déjà vu, and although we enjoy exercise and being active, many of us also have a hard time eating healthy and stopping when we’re full.
We love playing games, but we hate losing. We love the rush of gambling even though we know there’s a huge risk involved. We enjoy fear when we’ve consented to seeing a scary movie or visiting a haunted house, and we can feel the pain of others. We have belly buttons, acne and food cravings. And we often know what the right thing to do is, but we don’t always choose the most moral actions. We hurt people we love, and we fear being open and honest about our feelings. We are an extremely complex species.
The advent of the internet has certainly made it easier to realize just how bizarre of a species we truly are. We can snap photos and record videos anywhere, and we can share them online in seconds for others to view and respond to. We likely weren’t as tuned into how weird other humans were before we had the opportunity to share on pages like Humans Doing Human Things. But the absurdity of our species is one of the most beautiful things about it as well. We’re unpredictable, and we’re always looking for something new to do.
