ONE word for the human race as a species . . .

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: ONE word for the human race as a species . . .

Some gentle person has just reminded me that the opening post (and title) of this thread asked for the ONE word we thought described the human species.

I have no such single word. I can't tell whether this is because our language is too weak, or my mind is too weak, or whether that is a distinction without a difference.

P.S. -- I do have a favorite word for the organization of the universe. That word is "layers", as used in my preceding post.

[Aetius Romulous]

Re: ONE word for the human race as a species . . .

Pcow, clearly, no single English word is going to cover all the bases. "Life" is too complex for that (as you point out). Your line by line critique is not wrong in the main, but could apply to any single word response. It's the collection of words from collections of people that is of most interest...a chorus if you will. Mine is but a single voice.

Regardless, I do believe you missed my point as you suggested. My fault, I was asked for a single word and not a long drivel about why.

What makes humans different from other species? Plenty. Book loads in fact. Lots of words. One such difference however is our understanding of the future and our ability to "schuck & jive" in the face of it. Our attempts from the beginning to manage ourselves in the course of unknown risk and uncertainty contribute to who we are. Not exclusively of course, but fundamentally just the same. Far from a "random" world, our every action has consequences and from my point of view those consequences are unpredictable in a world of complexity. Thinking that those consequences are within our control is indeed a form of hubris, as is our insistence that we built the world according to plan as a result. We did not. We screwed up on may occasions, accepted the result as normal, called it history, built on it (layered ?), and moved on.

What's a single, frail English language word for that? I liked impetuous - it's kinda cheeky.