ABSTRACT
What is it to be human? A great deal of metaphysics has been written about what makes humans tick. The problem lies in trying to place limits on (the precise meaning of the verb ‘to define’) humanity, which is continuously changing, and in fact consciously changes itself all the time. Today is the only useful starting point, as in all the Earth and life sciences, when one species bestrides the planet. It occasionally leaves its terrestrial confines, and is perpetually consumed by gathering the information that teems throughout the rest of nature, and on which our survival is totally dependent. This dependence is inextricably bound up with means of passing on and extending that knowledge; with foresight and means of communicating with the future, as well as with other living members of our species.
