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
The Evolution Of Symbolic Language
In this third NPR piece Goodenough teams up with Terrence Deacon and the key comparison, again, is with the relaxation of genetic constraints mitigating against free-wheeling birdsong and in favour of the maintenance of stereotypy.
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