On How Similar We are to Chimps

I’m not interested in campaigning for personhood for chimps, unless Greyhounds and chickens get it, too. However, the sort of speciesist trivia I always find useful is anything that clears up the nonsense that we’re so special due to our language or ability to use tools or demonstrate empathy.

Enter "What Separates You From Chimps," by Clara Moskowitz of  LiveScience, which begins:

Scientists keep finding more similarities between humans and chimps. They share most of our genes, they seem to be able to handle tools, and they grasp some English pretty well, too.

Now researchers have found that we share a similar brain pattern when communicating.

The article (and the study it’s based on) confirms that our differences with chimps "come down to ones of degree, not of kind."

What’s dicey is the answer to: What separates us from apes? All of the answers are traits we can apply to either children or mentally challenged people or retarded people. For instance:

• Recursiveness in conversation is probably beyond the ability of chimpanzees. But it’s also beyond the ability of some people.
• Chimps don’t have the self-control humans do–once they’re capable of self-control.
• If one chimp is angry at another, he might "take a swat at him." And that differs from humans how?

Underneath all of the talk of how similar we are to chimps, what matters in the end is that chimps are not human. Period. Yes they share over 90% of our DNA, but that doesn’t seem to be a pertinent fact.

What makes us special isn’t our language, our ability to wage war with weapons, or our ability to cause global warming, or our infinite appetite for reality television. What matters–our core argument–is the simple fact that we are human.

And what a silly argument that is.