Human beings are the most recent stage of evolution along the primate line. The human is characterized by his tool-building ability, highly advanced grooming instinct and higher brain functions. Humans are the dominant species on the planet Earth.

The use of their agile arms and hands has allowed the human to develop a technological base of skills. The instinctual need to control has mutated into a psychological need to explore and test the boundaries of their environment (which in fact is one of the earliest developments a newborn human stages into). This has fed, and inversely been fed by, their technological advancement. Currently human technology surpasses their ability to control their baser instinctual responses.

The instinct for reproduction (which is necessary for almost any evolution) has enabled a complex system of exchange to be created. The need for impressing potential mates, to impart that one has ability to provide for the needs of a mate and offspring, along with the need to gathering what you need for survival, has become a monetary exchange system which drives the (now) global economy of the planet. The amassing of wealth is the primary motivator for the majority of the human population; in the belief that a certain level of wealth will assure a certain level of control of their environment.

Humans possess metacognition, the ability to be aware of and analyze the internal workings of their own minds. This has caused some issues as they have yet to integrate correctly the sub-cognitive workings of their instinctual drives. Metacognition has influenced a current trend to label all socially negative (against the ethics of society, not having a positive influence on society, or possessed by a small fraction of the population) impulses and behaviors as unnatural and attempt to correct the individual, which leads to a worse state than before.

Humans are currently undergoing "cultural fugue". Their fate is yet unknown.

Human beings are perhaps the most amazing thing that Earth has ever produced, in neither a good nor a bad way. You can view them as either so-called intelligent beings or as the bane of the planet. Whichever you choose, you cannot deny that humans have in them the potential to do so many wonderfully diverse things. Many do not rise to this challenge, but are sadly content to live their life accepting whatever comes their way.

As quoted from 'The Broken God', by David Zindell.

"The true human being is the meaning of the universe. He is a dancing star. He is the exploding singularity pregnant with infinite possibilities."

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