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?
Friday, 2 April 2010
Did We Start Out As Self-Domesticated Apes?
Here's the second linked NPR blog article, again written by Ursula Goodenough but heavily citing Terrence Deacon's take on the matter. It's another take on the trajectory I have suggested in my chapter THE APE THAT DOMESTICATED ITSELF. Here the comparison is between domesticated (selectively bred) Bengalese finches, which have a highly unconstrained song, and wild Bengalese finches where song appears more stereotyped. The idea is that domestication has lifted constraints in bird-song and may have lifted similar constraints on human proto-language and language. Interesting, if arguable, but it highlights once again the value of cross-species comparison even when we are trying to investigate traits we associate, in their modern form, uniquely with humans.
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