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Philosophy Talk

What's So Special About Humans?

Do other animals have language, thought, and culture?

Human beings share the planet with many different organisms with vastly diverse ways of life. We like to think we're a higher form of intelligence. But are we really that unique? How different are we as a species when it comes to language, thought, and culture? Where does our specifically human form of consciousness come from? And if other animals are so similar to us, should we stop eating them? Josh and guest-host Alison Gopnik walk the Earth with Peter Godfrey-Smith from the University of Sydney, author of Living on Earth: Forests, Corals, Consciousness, and the Making of the World. Sunday, December 1 at 11 am.

This episode was recorded live at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park.

Devon Strolovitch studied medieval Judeo-Portuguese manuscripts and earned a PhD in Linguistics from Cornell University before coming to KALW. He is the Senior Producer of Philosophy Talk, and since 2007 has hosted Fog City Blues, the weekly digest of Blues in the Bay Area and beyond.