Human beings are unique. You are not mere animals. People are special.

True…

We tend to (correctly) identify

• “intellect”
• “ethics” 
• “planning” 
• “second-order desires” 
• “complex written language” 
• “art” 
• “theory of mind” 

and other characteristics as categorically distinguishing homo sapiens from all other species.

Those things make us human.

True, but that obscures the fact that we humans are also incredible animals by non-human animal standards. We are natural superpredators. In contemporary societies populated more and more by overweight, sedentary, aging dullards… it’s especially easy to miss this. So let’s quickly go over how badass we are.

Man: No other animal can swim a mile, walk twenty miles, and then climb forty feet up a tree. Many civilized men can do this without much difficulty.

J.B.S. Haldane (evolutionary biologist). In “The Argument from Animals to Men,” Journal of the Royal Institute of Anthropology, 1956.

Picture elite athletes. They are closer to what we humans have been physically like for most of our existence as a species - hunters living off big game in the wild. No other species exhibits the range of physical ability that we do. Think marathon runners, sprinters, power lifters, gymnasts, acrobats, swimmers, etc. Endurance, agility, strength, precision. Native Americans, for example, used to hunt deer simply by outpacing the animal and tackling it to the ground.

Add to this picture our unique ability to coordinate ourselves as a team, to learn and communicate complex information about the future, and to fashion tools. Now hopefully you get an impression of what we really are. Hell, we likely hunted megafauna to extinction on three continents with just spears and rocks.

Surrounded by suburbs and sedentism, don’t forget this: deep down, fundamentally, naturally, you are a highly-evolved predator.

We are superior animals. Us, fuck yeah.