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Ah, human uniqueness… What a funny fallacy. The human experience consists of a series of contradictions. How many times have you wanted to be left alone, secretly wishing you would be nevertheless not? And how many times have you done something fully aware of the fact that it would lead to unpleasant results?

How many times have you wanted to feel the center of attention, at the same time feeling excessively self-conscious, loathing all the attention you’re after all getting? Humans love being deluded, and they adore fooling themselves.

It might be a coping mechanism, I am not qualified to say. But perhaps this is the most valid argument for human uniqueness: no other creature must be so capable at containing so contradicting ideas in their consciousness.

Seeing Reality for what It Is Isn’t Humanity’s Best Mental Tool

The examples above are only three of the most harmless ones. In reality, our contradicting self-delusion can reach far more serious proportions. Let’s focus on the phrase: “You Are Special, just like Everyone Else”.

At first, this might seem like a normal, natural thing to say. Then perhaps we realize the hidden pun, but still, nothing seems amiss. After all, we can indeed all be something unique, right? The problems begin once you assign a qualitative attribute to this delusion – for it is a delusion.

Have you ever met someone claiming their child was bad at school/sports/music? “Little Joey is not as talented as the rest of the kids when it comes to sports”. “Our George is about average when it comes to math”. “We had such high hopes for Janette to continue the family practice, but she’s not academically inclined”.

This last sentence underlines the nature of the problem: We are raised in societies that a) define success as the size of your bank account; b) children are expected to acquiesce to parents’ wishes. The word “expected” here reveals another related aspect: expectations. And so, we make a circle and go back to what we were talking about before: Assigning qualitative attributes to uniqueness.

Let’s look at the delusion head on:

No, you are not special in any meaningful way. You are just an individual Homo Sapiens (some of us do have some Neanderthal DNA remnants, by the way) that is programmed to eat, have sex, protect him/herself, be together with other individuals. That’s about it.

Is Human Uniqueness anything more than a hairless Gorilla that Can Play the Piano?

Perhaps some of us can play the piano (and respond well to piano lessons). Others might be physically strong (and respond well to workout). Others might be good with words (and respond well to education).

At the end of the day, for an overwhelming majority of us, it means absolutely nothing. The published poet who can play guitar and run a marathon once per month is not any different than an unemployed plumber who barely finished high school and is overweight.

They’re both dying, a day at a time.