Are we humans simply remodelled apes? Chimps with a tweak? Is the difference between our genomes so minuscule it justifies the argument that our cognition and behaviour must also differ from chimps by barely a whisker? If “chimps are us” should we grant them human rights? Or is this one of the biggest fallacies in the study of evolution? NOT A CHIMP argues that these similarities have been grossly over-exaggerated - we should keep chimps at arm’s length. Are humans cognitively unique after all?
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Chimps-R-Not-Us
Very nice review for NOT A CHIMP from LSE psychologist Christopher Badcock in Psychology Today's blog.
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Primatologists Go Ape Over Ardi
Nice report from Michael Balter on primatologists being forced onto the back foot at a recent meeting to discuss the implications of the discovery of Ardi for studies of human evolution that rely heavily on chimp-human comparison. Scientists like Bill McGrew, who has done the most work on chimpanzee tool use and manufacture, reacted unhappily to the sort of statements like "no modern ape is a realistic proxy for characterizing early hominid evolution - whether social or locomotor." But it sounds like Tim White and his crew won the day and are beginning to force a re-assessment as to exactly what we should be reading into ape cognition and behaviour and the degree to which it is proving dangerous to apply it to human origins and allowing it to stand as some kind of template for humans.