InDoctriNation
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- Jul 29, 2011
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Whether human beings are apes or not can easily be determined with a DNA test.
Scientists have sequenced the genome of the chimpanzee and found that humans are 96 percent similar to the great ape species.
Chimps, Humans 96 Percent the Same, Gene Study Finds
In the first place, many mammals have a high degree of genetic similarity (Spetner, Not by Chance, page 69). For example, the cytochrome C of a dog is about 90 percent similar to that of a human, and the hemoglobin of a horse is about 88 percent similar to that of a human. In view of this, a 98 percent genetic similarity between apes and humans is not surprising. It is interesting that some sources put the difference between humans and apes much higher, as high as 10 percent. At least for one gene, human and chimpanzee alleles seem to differ by 13 base pairs out of 270, for a difference of about 5 percent. (See Science, 6 Jan. 1995, pp. 35-36.)
The Ape-Human Connection
For me the fact that there is a difference means we are not apes because the DNA does not exactly match. Mammals have similarities but that's as far as it goes. Apes are apes,Humans are Humans, being siimilar doesn't mean we are related.
If our DNA exactly matched the DNA of the chimpanzee, then we would be chimpanzees. What you have just said is equivalent to saying that since an iPhone (human) is not a Blackberry (chimpanzee), then an iPhone (human) is not a cell phone (ape).