No such thing as a dumb question....

One of the questions that I keep asking to myself and I wouldn't mind getting answers to is; what makes us humans as appose to just homosapiens. Is it our genius, our culture or maybe out innate ability to adapt to changes quickly? People have this great ability to gather together to help those in need no mater what. Whether it being running a marathon to help cure cancer or pulling a burning car off a motorcyclist. Our genius has brought us a long way from gathering around a fire; we have always found a way to make life easier and more comfortable for ourselves. Building skyscrapers, trains that can go almost 200 m/h, phones that we chat with each other via video. Before I get off track, what kind of techniques did people before us have to develop to get us to this point and what's next?