WHAT MAKE US HUMAN
TEXT 2
Laughter, I would say, is another thing that makes us human, and being able to make
people laugh is a high calling. Watching Bill Bailey live on stage always makes me
proud to be a member of the same species.
But why do we laugh? I’ve been in comedy for 40 years and I still don’t know. It’s the
simple things that don’t have answers. What is life? No one knows: biologists can’t
tell the difference between a live hamster and a dead one. “What is the meaning of
life?” is even more difficult. Scientists can’t agree on the meaning of the word
“meaning”. (...)
The question of what it means to be human is central to all science fiction, and one
of the greatest writers in the genre, Robert Heinlein, had this to say: “A human being
should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship,
design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort
the dying, take orders, give orders, co-operate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a
new problem, pitch manure, programme a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight
efficiently, die gallantly. Specialisation is for insects.”
JOHN LLOYD - New Statesman PUBLISHED 1 AUGUST, 2014
http://www.newstatesman.com/2014/07/what-makes-us-human-our-innate-
curiosity-and-our-ability-laugh