How come there aren't any negative traits listed here. I would say the capacity to orientate ecosystem function to our own narrow use, and dominate other organisms in general.
No other large bodied species has been anywhere near as dominant as we are, and I think it is fairly likely we will pay the price. The currently dominant society is shite at self regulation. Too many competing interests, to many excuses given as reasons.
I think the degree of our cognitive intelligence is the thing that sets us apart, not things such as empathy so much...since other animals can also demonstrate such tendencies at the level of emotion, feeling. We can probably reflect to a higher degree on them.
I would also say though we can exhibit a great deal of intelligence in some ways, we are demonstrating an incredible of stupidity in others. I do think we should cut ourselves some slack though. We aren't in generally nearly as smart as we think we are. We are particularly good at telling stories to run rough shod over all the ways act against our own individual and collective interests on a regular basis. Although, what may or may not be in our interests is often subject to often divergent criteria. World's a complex place, and we need to start valuing wisdom over narrow cleverness.
Elaborate speech and language is just a product of our cognitive intelligence.
