Human Uniqueness (Human exceptionalism)
Capacity for symbolic expression (mathematical formulas, equations, symbols to represent reality, brain to support this activity)
Ability to invent and manipulate symbols (using signs, to represent ideas, objects, and emotions)
Ability to invent and manufacture complex tools
Explosive technological advance
Ability to manufacture and wear clothes (from the start, able to survive in cold)
Ability to invent and use complex languages
Capacity to form complex social structures
Ability to invent and use complex trading and transportation systems
Ability to engage in mathematics, literature, philosophy, and theology (music and art)
Ability to tame, domesticate, and train animals
Many wild animals are attracted to people
Large, globular-shaped skull to accommodate a huge parietal brain lobe (spirituality lobe – only in humans)
Hand dexterity for manipulating complex tools at high speeds and for long durations (e.g., playing the piano, typing, performing surgery)
High and sustained metabolic rate
Long life span with a high metabolic rate
Long infant and adolescent development time
Tall, slender skeletal frame - Very little body hair/fur – able to survive in heat with water
Efficient cooling designs and systems, also used to support large brain
Active religious activity, prayer, thinking about death and afterlife, and the brain hardware to suport this activity.
Unique bipedalism, striding bipedalism - dance - gymnastics
Human eyes, large white showing, range of colors, eye contact
Human hearing has good frequency selectivity
Self-conscious - conscious - moral dilemma
Able to do very good (altruizm) and vast evil, unlike animals
Made in the image of God, humans are unique, this is testable. Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them.
Brain:
The human brain possesses a specialized, bilateral network for high-level mathematics—specifically in the prefrontal, parietal, and inferior temporal regions—that is distinct from language processing, as shown in studies found in (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and ScienceDirect.com. This "math-specific" network, which includes the intraparietal sulcus, activates for algebra, analysis, geometry, and topology, regardless of whether the person is a professional mathematician. Animals do not have this specialized place. Humans have carried this place in the brain for thousands of years, before mathematics was ivited.
Brain:
Meditation and prayer physically reshapes the brain via neuroplasticity, strengthening regions associated with attention, emotion regulation, and self-awareness while shrinking the fear-driven amygdala. Key areas involved include the prefrontal cortex (focus/logic), hippocampus (memory/calm), and reduced activity in the default mode network (self-referential thoughts). New research reveals that meditation induces changes in deep brain areas associated with memory and emotional regulation. Meditation and prayer enhance mental well-being by cultivating awareness and emotional control. It has been shown to induce neuroplasticity, increase cortical thickness, reduce amygdala reactivity, and improve brain connectivity and neurotransmitter levels, leading to improved emotional regulation, cognitive function, and stress resilience. This systematic review will synthesize research on neurobiological changes associated with mindfulness and meditation practices. Animals do not have this brain capability.
Also see the Image of God page and Near-Death Experience page
Ref: (Secular and Christian site):
Unlike the "bent-hip-bent-knee" (BHBK) gait of other primates, humans possess a short, broad pelvis, a mobile lower back, and long legs, allowing for a fully erect gait. : Dance involves specialized, intense, and rhythmic bipedal jumps (sautés) that require high-level control of balance and coordination. Gymnastics maximizes these, features, utilizing, the, high-range motion in hips and spine, which are adapted for upright posture.
Uniqueness symbolic expression in early man, key expressions include deliberate, complex, and abstract engravings on objects like shells and ochre, marking a shift from mere survival to cultural, communicative, and artistic expression. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7060673/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328111005_Human_uniqueness
https://www.livescience.com/15689-evolution-human-special-species.html
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11591838/ Prayer and brain
https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1603205113 Brain and math
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053811919300011 Brain and math