I know without even asking that Zeldman and I differ greatly in our worldviews, and with a title like this, I likely shouldn’t have tapped the link. But I did. And it was awesome.
The real difference between us and other animals is on the collective level.
This phrasing worried me. Humans are unique in their individuality, not their collectiveness.
Humans control the world because we are the only animal that can cooperate flexibly in large numbers. Ants and bees can also work together in large numbers, but they do so in a very rigid way. If a beehive is facing a new threat or a new opportunity, the bees cannot reinvent their social system overnight in order to cope better. They cannot, for example, execute the queen and establish a republic.
And then it changed. Bees and ants work collectively and, because of it, change doesn’t come easily. Why is this that humans are even different than chimps? We were designed differently. This was what we were designed for. God told us to go forth to the corners of the earth and be fruitful. Ultimately, mankind runs the world because God intended it, but this article gives many reasons why we are better suited for that role than any other creature on the planet.