Somehow humans have lost something that animals possess in abundance, e.g. instincts
You touch on this but I'd like to be explicit; humans do have an instinct, one that supercedes the plethora of environmentally dependent instincts in other animals because it is universally useful.
We possess curiosity. Coupled with our unique ability to learn and actually understand (as opposed to the brute force, blind, behavioural change animals use to adapt) we can live anywhere and do practically anything.
But to fully utilise this ability, we need the capacity to hold knowledge. Our education systems (even culture, generally) are a shortcut to cramming only the necessary information into even small brains, giving the illusion of equality. Of course, if the information fed to students is not all necessary, we quickly see who is able to correct the failure and who is trapped in the false worldview they have been provided.
You touch on this but I'd like to be explicit; humans do have an instinct, one that supercedes the plethora of environmentally dependent instincts in other animals because it is universally useful.
We possess curiosity. Coupled with our unique ability to learn and actually understand (as opposed to the brute force, blind, behavioural change animals use to adapt) we can live anywhere and do practically anything.
But to fully utilise this ability, we need the capacity to hold knowledge. Our education systems (even culture, generally) are a shortcut to cramming only the necessary information into even small brains, giving the illusion of equality. Of course, if the information fed to students is not all necessary, we quickly see who is able to correct the failure and who is trapped in the false worldview they have been provided.