How are we not great apes? I’ve taken 2 whole anthropology classes and this is the first I’m hearing of this! /s
For real, though, would love an answer. These things interest me.
Comment on Are humans the only great apes that can be "holy", or could for example an Orangutan be divine?
jesterraiin@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Humans aren’t great apes.
DharmaCurious@lemmy.world 11 months ago
jesterraiin@lemmy.world 11 months ago
How are we not great apes?
How can Pluto cease to be a planet overnight?
Contramuffin@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I know that you’re asking rhetorically, since you have no idea how science works. But to anyone else who’s interested, the reason is because we found a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt that was bigger than Pluto, and it became hard to justify that Pluto was a planet if the planet that we found was a dwarf planet. Either both had to be planets or both had to be dwarf planets. And we ended up making both of them dwarf planets
jesterraiin@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I know that you’re asking rhetorically, since you have no idea how science works.
I know how science works. It discovers, analyzes, proposes a hypothesis, that becomes a theory and then - widely accepted “truth”.
…and then, often the same truth becomes an obsolete relic of old, once enough new findings emerge, or enough of scientists agree that new definitions, approach and formulas are required.
I know, you don’t exactly understand it, you prefer to follow to the letter everything you’re being told, and trust what people in funny uniforms say, no matter what. The bad news is that it places you in the same spot medieval (and unfortunately current) Flat Earthers occupy. The good news is that you’re about to see many changes to current “truths” across your lifetime.
So, enjoy the ride.
And we ended up making both of them dwarf planets
Imagine if the opposite camp would be more convincing/charismatic/numerous and instead of stripping off Pluto of his former status, we’d get more planets to our Solar System. Wow, what a preposterous idea!
In reality, nothing has changed. Pluto is still what it was, and it continues to move in its own slow pace across its trajectory. It’s just that some funny people decided to settle a difficult topic by a compromise.
Same thing with the funny people who decided to equate humans with gorillas. Their distinction is also artificial, forced and imperfect. A compromise. Nothing else.
charonn0@startrek.website 11 months ago
The meaning of “planet” has changed greatly over the centuries as our understanding improved. It originally meant “wanderer” and referred to the five naked-eye planets known since antiquity plus the sun and moon, but NOT the Earth.
As astronomers and astrophysicists learned more about them, it became clear that classifying all stellar objects as the same category was unworkable. Earth was re-classified as a planet, the moon as a moon, and the sun as a star.
Likewise, Pluto was reclassified because the old classification made little sense.
jesterraiin@lemmy.world 11 months ago
…and, given time and enough of a change to relevant peoples’ mindset, so does the classification of both some animals and humans might change, as well.
Because that’s how science was, is and will ever be - a mutable “phenomenon”, where rigidity means lack of progress.
I see no problem in that.
PillowTalk420@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Mid apes.
BobbyBandwidth@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Dank apes
jesterraiin@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Only from the perspective that sees camels as “mid dogs”, probably…
TheInsane42@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Sure they are. Why do some humans think they are better then other animals and not part of nature?
jesterraiin@lemmy.world 11 months ago
There’s an enormous gap between “we’re better than SOME animals”, and “we’re no part of nature”. It’s so wast you could throw whole flotilla of USA inside and it wouldn’t even cover its bottom.
And yet, you managed to cross this distance in a single mental leap. Nicely done.
BobbyBandwidth@lemmy.world 11 months ago
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hominidae
jesterraiin@lemmy.world 11 months ago
If you’re ok with being put alongside your family in the same row as some feces throwing hairy animals, because some guys - that might as well change their opinion tomorrow - told you it’s ok, I’m not going to stop you.
Me? I don’t feel much kinship with gorillas, thank you very much.
Contramuffin@lemmy.world 11 months ago
This guy literally just said that he doesn’t believe in evolution because he doesn’t feel like it.
I gotta hand it to you, you managed to give the worst anti-evolution argument I’ve heard yet
jesterraiin@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Actually, I have no problem with evolution. It’s just that I don’t believe in the forced division of species, one that puts us in the same cage as gorillas.
…but, since you have obvious sexual feelings towards these funny creatures, godspeed, and may you bring beautiful children to this world.
ShaggyDemiurge@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 months ago
I mean, where do you put humans as a species then
jesterraiin@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Nowhere near gorillas.
I am sure that the scientific model of evolution is vast and flexible enough, so that we don’t have to occupy the same place those creatures dwell in.