We aren't.

I'm going with yes.

I'm not going to debate a pro on this

please. i want to see this.

The affirmative from Hogenboom
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150706-the-small-list-of-things-that-make-humans-unique
The negation also from Hogenboom
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150706-humans-are-not-unique-or-special

What type of debate is this? Apda? BP?

I will.

It's called a Big Question debate

Here's the format
Affirmative constructive - 5 minutes

Negative constructive - 5 minutes

Question segment - 3 minutes (Affirmative gets the first question)

Affirmative rebuttal - 4 minutes

Negative rebuttal - 4 minutes

Question segment - 3 minutes

Affirmative consolidation - 3 minutes

Negative consolidation - 3 minutes

Affirmative rationale - 3 minutes

Negative rationale - 3 minutes

Prep time - 3 minutes each

Anyways. Here's my rough outline of the Affirmative article for you lazies

Humans Are Nowhere as Special as We Like to Think

Main point- Traits that were once considered the hallmark of humanity are found in animals

-"There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties" and that all the differences are "of degree, not of kind". -Charles Darwin

-"If a young chimpanzee be tickled," he noted, "as is the case of our young children a more decided chuckling or laughing sound is uttered". He also observed that chimpanzees' eyes wrinkle, sparkle and grow brighter when they laugh. -Charles Darwin

-It was observed that chimpanzees use tools to get food and accomplish tasks, which was previously believed to be an act unique to humans

-the same muscles are involved when chimps and humans smile.

-Chimps' social skills are the basis for another behaviour once thought to be uniquely human: morality.
*Chimpanzees will unlock a door that leads to food for a mate, even if the one doing the unlocking would not get any. In the wild researchers have witnessed chimpanzees helping disabled group members, adopting unrelated orphans and helping friends escape from poachers' snares.
*They will share food even if there is nothing obviously in it for them. The study found that they will split a reward equally, just as humans do. In one task chimpanzees shared bananas in the same way that humans share money.
*After two monkeys had completed the same task, both would happily accept a cucumber as a reward. But when one was randomly given a more delicious grape instead, the other was not happy and began to refuse the cucumber.
*rats will also save a friend from being soaked with water, even if it means getting wet themselves.
*The long-held view that chimps are selfish and mean is no longer acceptable, says de Waal. "People say that morality comes from God, from religion," he says, but we can clearly see the roots of morality in many other species.

-Animals have a sense of hierarchy
*It would be misleading to only consider chimpanzees as helpful, moral creatures. Just like us, they have a dark side. There are many instances of fighting, murder and even infanticide. Their society is built upon a complex, hierarchical social world where it is important to keep friends close. That means chimps can get manipulative.
*Chimps also have some understanding of human minds. They can tell the difference between a person who is unwilling to give them food and a person who is unable to so.


-Language
* one study found that chimps beckon in the same way we do. Other work identified 66 distinct gestures, which all conveyed meaningful information.
*It is clear that chimps, like many other species, have intricate ways of communicating with each other. The fault has been ours: we have been slow to understand what they are saying.
*There's no doubt that human abilities are more developed than those of chimps, particularly when it comes to spoken language. The point is that the differences are not stark and absolute, but rather a matter of degree – and they get subtler the more we investigate them

No. Well kinda...

Fundamentally, were are both made of atoms, even both multicellular life forms. There are fundamental differences though, like some animals (Bees, Wolves etc) are social, they don't just cooperate on a cellular level, they also cooperate on a multi-individual level (the social level).

NB we also compete on a cellular level, and the worst outcome of this competition is cancer.

Fundamentally, we are complex structures, highly organised atomic structures, with self-regulating energy systems (food in, work out); in this we are not different to other animals, but human culture and social systems (not mentioned in the op) ARE fundamentally different, they form a more complex level of organisation than any other animals' culture.

But our society is not us. So no. We are a product of a society which is fundamentally different, but we are just animals.

our bodies are animal and material but there is more to a human than the body

@Capn Brad, are you positing the extension of what it means to be human to include our smart phones? That we are all cyborgs - technology and biology acting in symbiosis? That collectively we are all forming some kind of super neural network?!

there is also no fundamental difference between higher mammals and plants. studies have shown that trees communicate through an unseen underground network, likely associated with fungal interchanges in root systems. certainly, fungal networks, such as are found in the pacific northwest, are the most complex and oldest life form in the world. we humans are sad, poor creatures who live alone and fail to tap into the universal net . . . the ether. even this debate reveals our ignorance thinking it matters what we discern in this realm.

Pretty sure Pocahontas taught us that the difference is minimal

I like to think about the philotic web from the Ender's universe.

A Philotic Web was a philosophical and physical construct that described the interconnection of not only all the aiúas in the universe, but also the lesser-intelligent philotes.

The web was the direct result of every philotic connection in the universe. These connections never touched each other in the truer sense of the word "web," but every being could have been linked to every other being by their interconnected philotes. These philotic connections were not static, and can be strengthened or weakened over time. For example, Si Wang-mu and Peter Wiggin II begin their journey together having only a small philotic connection. As they spent more time together and grew increasingly more affectionate and emotionally attached to each other, coupled with Peter gaining Andrew Wiggin's aiúa, their connection grew stronger and stronger.

The philotic connections could have grown to monumental proportions based solely on emotional and "spiritual" connectedness. Grego was spoken of as having formed a very intense philotic web with the angry mob in Xenocide in a matter of minutes. Additionally, philotic connections could cause physical disturbance or emotional distress when severed.

Well, yes, of course, but then so is every other species on earth. That's what makes them a distinct species.

Duh.

I feel like the most effective argument is from Charles Darwin, when he said, "all the differences are 'of degree, not of kind."

Humans are pretty special. I'd say we're very different from other animals.

But are we fundamentally different? I think humans are considered "special" because of the degree of difference, rather than the kind of difference. (See? It works)

@"Humans are pretty special. I'd say we're very different from other animals."

Says a human!

"The brain is the most important organ in the human body; according to the brain"

I’d say the differences between humans and other animals are less physiological and more cultural and societal. For instance humans possess the unique ability to be able to share information across its entire species via telecommunications and the internet

^^^ in that sense we are becoming more like the fungi ^^^

I think it's interesting that a lot of animals have a heightened sense of morality, with primates having a sense of hierarchy as an example.

I'm 100% unbiased that humans are better :P
I mean, in terms of self awareness no other animal even comes close. The current gap between humans and animals is so large it's ridiculous.
(Which does make me worried that an advanced alien race might be so far ahead of us that we're nothing important)

Fungi can only communicate among their group, like well organized ants or bees. Or a pack of wolves. Arguably we’ve been doing this since the dawn of society, or even more arguably, since tribal hunter-gatherer times

Are humans fundamentally different from aliens?

That's a question that keeps me up at night.
I suspect some aliens are pretty similar to humans. And others are as different to us as we are to plant life.

Isn't Pocahontas the junior senator from massachusetts?

So those of you who argue that we are no different from animals then mean that there is no morality, no correct behavior and no restraint from animal behavior. then we are free to do whatever to whomever for any or no reason.