MIKE, on June 20, 1998 you asked me,

Jake, what is the main difference between Man and other creatures?
It cannot be thinking, because other animals think too. It cannot even be your "meta-thinking" because this is still thinking.
So what is it, Jake? I mean the most profound, intrinsic and undeniable?

And another question: Is it possible that a part of the Universe be more powerful, or potent, than the rest of the Universe combined?

Mike, the capacity to meta-think is the capital difference! Because it embodies the EMERGENT that made H. sapiens the pinnacle of Evolution!
I can only add a crucial fact, and a thought .

Fact: Genomically speaking, the chimpanzee is our most related species, exhibiting a 99% chromosomal parity. Therefore, it is just that minimal 1% of the genome that separates us. Are you daring to state that there is very little difference between the two species? Obviously, you have not grasped the meaning of EMERGENT!
Only of late are scientists attempting to determine the 1% genes --about 700-- that make the difference. I can bet that a few of them will be the endowers of meta-thinking power.

Thought: Intelligence is defined as the capacity to learn and to understand, right?
Well, we are all agreed that the other animals learn. The dolphin is a startling example. Kittens learn from their mothers the art of chasing mice. And they also learn from them that mice are food! Contrast this learning ability to the inborn --instinctual-- 'knowledge' of the female cats that their litter can me mobilized by grasping them gingerly from their neck's skin. Have you noticed how supple an adult cat becomes when held by you in a like manner?
Well, all of these genetic characteristics of animals show that aside from inborn 'knowledge,' they can aquire learned skills. Wouldn't you agree that all animals are endowed with the capacity to learn? Yet learning is only one of the preconditions for intelligence...What about the second precondition for intelligence, the ability to understand?
If you can offer irrefutable evidence that other animals understand what they do, instinctually or learned, then you can prove that they are INTELLIGENT. Otherwise, you will have to accept that other animals are partiallyintelligent, being able to learn --but not to understand.