Difference Between Human and Chimps

¶ … Human Beings and Primates

There is a four percent genetic difference between human's chimpanzees. What might these differences be? Let us speculate. First of all, human beings can be scientists; chimps are not by their genetic natures. Second of all, humans engage in goal-directed behavior, chimps live for the moment. Third of all, human beings have the physical and mental ability to create civilizations. Chimps do not.

First of all, human beings can think about the differences between themselves and other animals in a scientific fashion. Chimpanzees cannot do this -- chimps are different because they do not analyze. Chimpanzees are different from humans because they do not have the ability to think in the long-term and make scientific observations about different kinds of animals. Instead, unlike people, chimpanzees live for the moment and are not goal-oriented because they do not have the mental capacity to create long-term goals and they do not have the physical capacity to make tools and to create a civilization that is not based upon struggling for survival. What a difference that four percent makes!

When one says that chimpanzees are not goal oriented, this means that chimpanzees do not engage in forward-thinking actions because the four percent genetic difference limits this ability of their brains. Chimps focus on the immediate circumstances around them. Chimpanzees focus on their social group or the needs of their young, unlike humans who can dream. Chimpanzees are concerned with their personal survival and the survival of their young alone. Although humans are concerned about these things, they are also concerned about other matters, such as the future of their entire species, even if they are not related to these individuals. Because of this concern about the future of the entire species, humans engage in scientific observation. Chimpanzees do not observe other chimps in an objective fashion. They look at other chimps to see if they are being threatened, if they are related to that chimp, or if that chimp might be a good and likely partner. Chimpanzees do not think about interests beyond their needs, one of the limits of their species, and one of the differences between themselves and humans.

The genetic difference between humans and chimps means that that the less goal-directed chimpanzees live in the wilderness. It takes planning to build houses and make tools but chimps do not make use of tools, because the four percent genetic difference limits their physical and mental capacity to do so. Instead, chimpanzees make use of their entire bodies more than humans to survive. Even chimpanzees in the zoo engage in more physical contact regarding survival. Chimps establish dominance by fighting in against other chimps, while humans make use of verbal communication as well as physical communication.

Chimpanzees are also, because they live in the wild and do not have tools, more dependent on one another. Even though chimpanzees live in groups, while humans can live alone. This is because of the four percent of genetic differences between the two species. Thus chimps do not have the support system of a civilization that provides them with ready access to food at the supermarket, or protects them from the elements in the form of ready-made clothing. Human beings were able to evolve to create more sophisticated tools and commodities, so they did not have to constantly cope with the demands of heat, cold, and the threat of starvation.