Humans and apes, especially chimpanzees, share about 97% of their genes so is 3% enough to make us human?
Humans and apes share similar behaviour patterns and motives. Primates are social species, and they like to spend their time with their troop; additionally, they groom and communicate with each other. This is not very different from humans as we love to spend time with family and friends and take care of our appearances. Not to mention that there is a hierarchy in the apes’ world and each individual in the group knows its own duty in the troop. The alpha male, which is the leader, gets to this position by fighting (some studies found that the alpha male has more muscles, is more aggressive, and has much more hair on his body than the other males in his group). Also, apes know how to use tools, gestures, and facial expressions as part of their communication, just like humans do.
An ape’s social life is very similar to a human’s. Humans have a hierarchy in which they know where each individual stands. Obviously, the higher a person in the hierarchy, the more dominance and control of resources they hold; these patterns are also found in apes. Holding a high position in the hierarchy will reward you more respect and the other members will treat you better than the rest. This makes humans and non-humans respect the position rather than the person, in order to avoid the harm that the position holder could do.
The human brain is a selfish organ; it is built to seek its own benefits while at the same time trying to avoid revealing its selfishness in front of other people. Humans fight to be at the top of the hierarchy by fighting for power, social status, and access to resources. Furthermore, humans have the ability to hide their real motives in order to mislead and trick others to make situations work in their favour. In some cases where decisions are crucial, humans tend to work them to achieve their hidden agenda.
Whilst humans are intelligence species; they are not that different from apes and have the ability to deceive others for their own agenda. More often than not, people will only tell you what they think you want to hear and have the power to backstab their enemies to climb the hierarchy ladder .
