The difference betweem a piece of marble and human kind is temporal

Thus the difference between a piece of marble and a sensing, conscious creature is a difference in temporal stages of matter

The philosopher  Diderot illustrates with a thought experiment of a marble statue, ground into powder, mixed into the earth, out of which plants grow, which animals eat. In turns the animals are eaten by us – what Diderot calls the “animalisation” of matter.