We were certainly not the first nor the last to cross the consciousness line. There are a lot of animals you can observe who are clearly conscious. In fact, it's not a line at all - it's a multi-dimensional gradient.
But we are the first ones to develop advanced planning, technology, and science.
Not to be glib, but our brain is the only organ, in all living beings on earth,as far as we know, that can wonder about itself and write at lengths about itself.
> our brain is the only organ, in all living beings on earth,as far as we know, that can wonder about itself
Obviously dogs won't write about their brains being sentient, but how do you know that they don't think about themselves?
Humans were sentient long before they knew how to write, or which part of the body is responsible for their thoughts. What makes us think we're so special?
I am quite sure dogs can predict future behaviour of simple systems and act on these systems to achieve their goals. Problem solving in dogs is widely documented and I think it suffices to assume at least some sentience.
Humans were sentient long before they knew how to write...
You're so right, and it seems one sees this error constantly in discussions like this. Human beings like us have been around for 200,000 years, and only within the last 10,000 have even some of us written anything down. Yet we assume that civilization, with farming and government and writing, is somehow the default for this species.
Dogs do not pass the mirror test, which, hypothetically, indicates they have no concept of "self" - thus they cannot think about themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_test - there is a discussion about dogs specifically, noting that vision is not their primary sense, so the mirror test may have less value.
While I agree, we can measure human-like intelligence in mammals such as dolphins and whales. So we look for the same attributes in other living creatures.
You might be interested in hearing about Washoe, a chimpanzee that was taught American Sign Language[1]. A particular quote from the entry: "When Washoe was shown an image of herself in the mirror, and asked what she was seeing, she replied: 'Me, Washoe.'"
Here's also a video on her, as well as Koko, a gorilla that was also taught ASL[2]
We may be the only ones who write, but whales, birds, and elephants are constantly jabbering on about something. Maybe some whalesongs are poetry about existence as a whale.
But we are the first ones to develop advanced planning, technology, and science.