If I were to teach the world one thing, it would be the unique role of the human mind and of self-conscious agency in human affairs. This has allowed us a degree of control over our destiny, and has freed us - to a greater or lesser extent - from the constraints of the natural environment.

The generation-upon-generation growth in human abilities has been made possible as a result of our unique ability to reflect upon what we, and our fellow humans, are doing - thereby teaching, and learning from, each other. This has laid the foundation for the agricultural and industrial revolutions, for the development of science and technology, and for the transformations of our ways of living that flow from these.

Science has demonstrated the special nature of human learning. We have the ability to understand and scrutinise one another's intentions. We do not tend to respond blindly to what others do or say. Rather, to one degree or another, we can analyse others' motives. Similarly, we have some understanding of how physical processes work. This means that we can manipulate the physical world to our advantage, and we can continually develop and perfect the tools we use to do so.

Social learning and teaching depend upon these abilities. Because other animals do not understand intentionality or causality, they do not engage in cultural learning of this type. We, on the other hand, have been able to build upon the achievements of previous generations. Just in the last century, we have brought vast improvements to our lives, through constant innovation - including better health, longer life expectancy, higher living standards, more sophisticated means of communication and transport and greater opportunities.

Considering the vast differences in the way we live, it is very difficult to sustain the argument that other animals are 'just like us'. What appears to be behind today's fashionable view of animal and human equivalence is a denigration of human capacities and human ingenuity. The richness of human experience is trivialised, because human experiences are lowered to, are equated with, those of animals.

It is sloppy simply to apply human characteristics and motives to animals. This blocks our understanding of what is specific about animal behaviour and degrades what is unique about our humanity.

Helene Guldberg is a contributor to The Internet: Brave New World? (buy this book from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)), and Rethinking Risk and the Precautionary Principle (buy this book from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)).