The most famous argument for the degrees of similarity between humans and their close primate relatives, the chimpanzees has been out of a ground-breaking paper published in 1975 in Science. There evolutionary biologist Allan Wilson of UC Berkeley argued that humans where only 1% genetically different to chimpanzees.
An article under the NewsFocus section of the Science magazine published on 6/29/07 (vol.316, p.1836) reports otherwise. I will not follow the article and get into the scientific reasons for not believing the 1% myth. I will give another example that I hope will clear the air. Let me say to those who don't know me that I am not a young creationist. On the contrary, I believe in evolution. However the "1%" argument put forward by people trying to generate love and respect for our fellow animals is not entirely true. I back the motives but not the false argument.
An article under the NewsFocus section of the Science magazine published on 6/29/07 (vol.316, p.1836) reports otherwise. I will not follow the article and get into the scientific reasons for not believing the 1% myth. I will give another example that I hope will clear the air. Let me say to those who don't know me that I am not a young creationist. On the contrary, I believe in evolution. However the "1%" argument put forward by people trying to generate love and respect for our fellow animals is not entirely true. I back the motives but not the false argument.
Imagine that both humans and chimps are building ships. It is something they both know how to do. Each group possesses an ancient book with all the information on ship construction. The human book has 24 chapters and 1000 pages, whereas the chimp book has 10 chapters and 200 pages. Humans got a hold of the chimp book and compared it to their own. In it they found that the in the 10 chapters of the chimp book where many almost identical instructional passages to the human book. When comparing these passages word for word they found them to be 99% similar (1% different). Nevertheless the human book contained new passages and some of the old had been enriched in more detailed explanations on the science behind building ships. The human book has 14 more chapters and 800 more pages
. The human book also has some quizzes and comic strips in it, and also other passages that don't make much sense. The fact though is that in these 800 extra pages many are very relevant to ship construction.
Just because the passages that are common between the two books are only 1% different, it does not mean that the whole books are 1% different.
-JimB
. The human book also has some quizzes and comic strips in it, and also other passages that don't make much sense. The fact though is that in these 800 extra pages many are very relevant to ship construction. Just because the passages that are common between the two books are only 1% different, it does not mean that the whole books are 1% different.
-JimB
2 comments:
Is it really only the animal lovers trying to identify the genetic difference between animals and primates?
I agree with you though babe, the differences can be huge even if they are only really small.
no, it s not only the animal lovers. However part of the reason the !% myth is so big is that animal lovers and nature lovers promoted it (I can't think anyone with more interest in it) to show that we are not so different than chimps and we should thus treat them better. Like I said I back their motives but the truth is (and science is about the truth) that we are more than 1% different.
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