HOW WE BECAME HUMAN
“Time” magazine, October 9, 2006
“How We Became Human” was on the cover of this magazine recently. On the cover it goes on to say, “Chimps and humans share almost 99% of their DNA. New discoveries reveal how we can be so alike – and yet so different.” This really caught my interest because I don’t believe some of us in this country have actually become human. I mean, just look at the havoc and suffering we have inflicted on different parts of the world. That has nothing to do with humanity. The article talked about genomes, so I went to the internet, as usual, and found out this about genomes. It says the genome of an organism is its entire hereditary information and is encoded in the DNA. I quit reading after that as it was giving me a headache. Too much information for my little mind.
I went back to the magazine article that stated we are very closely related to the great apes, especially the Chimps, and how they resemble us. It isn’t just the looks, it’s also that fact they share many human-like behaviors and also teach skills to their offspring. They even prey on other animals and sometimes murder each other. Wow! I think we all know someone like that, don’t we? Just imagine a conversation between two girlfriends:
Tiffany: “I had sex with a guy last night and he was a real gorilla and really hot!”
Amber: “YOU WHAT????”
Tiffany: “Come on, Amber – you know what I mean.”
But do we really know what Tiffany means? The article goes on to say that Chimps and humans first split but later interbred from time to time. And then there are the Neanderthals who walked upright and were more like humans. This article was beginning to REALLY give me a headache until I came to the picture of our family tree which saved the day as far as I’m concerned. It shows a big tree with five branches. On the first branch is a man in a business suit reading what I suppose is “The Wall Street Journal.” On the branch above is a Chimp who appears to be playing with himself – no big surprise there – a favorite pastime for many. Then comes the Bonobos, a pygmy chimp who may be picking his teeth or possibly his nose. Then comes the Gorilla who looks like he’s sucking on a popsicle. Then the Orangutan who appears to be very bored and is raising his hand. He either wants to get down and take a nap or go to the bathroom. And standing upright below the human is the Neanderthal with his back to us, wearing only something wrapped around his waist and looking up at all his relatives in the tree. He has long hair and is holding a big stick. I think he’s wondering, “What in the hell are my relatives doing up in that tree?”
It all boils down to the fact that you could put a business suit on all of them and hand each one “The Wall Street Journal,” and it would be difficult to tell them apart. . . and that includes the human.
“Time” magazine, October 9, 2006
“How We Became Human” was on the cover of this magazine recently. On the cover it goes on to say, “Chimps and humans share almost 99% of their DNA. New discoveries reveal how we can be so alike – and yet so different.” This really caught my interest because I don’t believe some of us in this country have actually become human. I mean, just look at the havoc and suffering we have inflicted on different parts of the world. That has nothing to do with humanity. The article talked about genomes, so I went to the internet, as usual, and found out this about genomes. It says the genome of an organism is its entire hereditary information and is encoded in the DNA. I quit reading after that as it was giving me a headache. Too much information for my little mind.
I went back to the magazine article that stated we are very closely related to the great apes, especially the Chimps, and how they resemble us. It isn’t just the looks, it’s also that fact they share many human-like behaviors and also teach skills to their offspring. They even prey on other animals and sometimes murder each other. Wow! I think we all know someone like that, don’t we? Just imagine a conversation between two girlfriends:
Tiffany: “I had sex with a guy last night and he was a real gorilla and really hot!”
Amber: “YOU WHAT????”
Tiffany: “Come on, Amber – you know what I mean.”
But do we really know what Tiffany means? The article goes on to say that Chimps and humans first split but later interbred from time to time. And then there are the Neanderthals who walked upright and were more like humans. This article was beginning to REALLY give me a headache until I came to the picture of our family tree which saved the day as far as I’m concerned. It shows a big tree with five branches. On the first branch is a man in a business suit reading what I suppose is “The Wall Street Journal.” On the branch above is a Chimp who appears to be playing with himself – no big surprise there – a favorite pastime for many. Then comes the Bonobos, a pygmy chimp who may be picking his teeth or possibly his nose. Then comes the Gorilla who looks like he’s sucking on a popsicle. Then the Orangutan who appears to be very bored and is raising his hand. He either wants to get down and take a nap or go to the bathroom. And standing upright below the human is the Neanderthal with his back to us, wearing only something wrapped around his waist and looking up at all his relatives in the tree. He has long hair and is holding a big stick. I think he’s wondering, “What in the hell are my relatives doing up in that tree?”
It all boils down to the fact that you could put a business suit on all of them and hand each one “The Wall Street Journal,” and it would be difficult to tell them apart. . . and that includes the human.
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