What makes us different?

No matter who you are, no matter where you live, life eventually forces us to ask questions. Who am I, really?  What really matters?  Why do I sometimes feel so empty?  Where do these questions come from?  I am pretty sure our dogs do not appear to spend time thinking about such things.  I know our cat doesn't.  There is something different about us humans.  Yes like plants we need food and water, and like animals we need sleep and exercise. Yet beyond that, as humans we need purpose and love. 

I remember a story about Hitler's Germany. They were trying to produce lots of babies, and keep everyone as productive and efficient as possible.  The babies were raised in large sterile nurseries. They were fed and they were changed in the most effectively.  They was no time for the caretakers to cuddle or hold the babies.  The result?  This horrific human experiment found that the babies would become sickly and many would die in that environment.  They found that they needed specific gentle attention.  They needed love to survive.

Today we all know that kids growing up in dysfunctional homes, where love is rare, are at a higher risk for getting in trouble and even suicide. We give special grace to kids from broken homes knowing that they have had it tough.

What is it about us humans that makes us different than the other animals on this planet?  Science fiction calls this special  quality "self-awareness".  That at some point in our evolution our intelligence crossed a special line and we became aware of our own existence.  Is that explanation sufficient? Is it satisfactory? Is there any supporting evidence for that hypothesis?  I wonder.

Can a special undefinable critical mass of intelligence explain these things?

• Our appreciation of beauty
• Our common human understaning of fairness
• Our need for meaning an purpose
• Our need for love

Let me know what you think.