I’ve just begun reading Feral Children and Clever Animals: Reflections On Human Nature, by Douglas Keith Candland. It’s too far too early to review the book but I can say that for me the subject is riveting. Be it my own quest or someone else’s request, I often find myself attempting to distill and refine my understanding of the human essense.

Not so long ago characteristics such as the use of tools, speech, empathy, imagination and art were all listed as criteria for drawing the line between humanity and zoomanity. Now, in a world of surprisingly clever animals and intentionally clever machines, that list is continuing to shrink. But how far can it be shrunk? What is essentially human? What is distinctively human? Are these even the right questions?

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