The Friday Funnies: Monkeying Around with Human Exceptionalism

So, it is now believed that humans are more closely related to orangutans than than to chimpanzees. Well, let's all take a deep breath and . . . yawn!

I read the whole article, and it all seems very speculative. Besides, what does it matter in the end?

While I am all for learning every scientific fact we can, assuming proper ethics, I don’t think this is very important. For some reason, human beings became the exceptional species in the known history of the universe, becoming creative, moral, and able to partially transcend nature with intentionality. We philosophize, pray, seek meaning, comprehend beauty, think abstractly, and design and manufacture machines. We are the only species with duties and the only ones with rights. Indeed, we are the only species that comprehends these concepts. However we came into being–blind evolution, design, creation, or a combination thereof–and whichever animal might be our closest evolutionary relative, human exceptionalism is the core. Distant relations may be interesting, but are not morally germane.

What suddenly concerns me is all those early spaceshots in which chimpanzees sat in for the astronauts. In hindsight, would it have been better to put baboons in the pilot's seat?