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Are you Greater than an Ape?
- Thread starter Thief
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ratiocinator
Lightly seared on the reality grill.
I am an ape - as are you and all humans.
HonestJoe
Well-Known Member
Other apes don't post weird open questions on internet forums so that have that going for them.
metis
aged ecumenical anthropologist
As is the title of Desmond Morris' book "The Naked Ape"-- one of my favorites.
metis
aged ecumenical anthropologist
To the OP, I cannot answer it because none of the answers deal with my approach.
Biologically, we are pretty much "naked apes" with big brains and a much more extensive and diverse set of cultures than they. From my faith perspective, I don't classify them as humans but I have a strong respect for all life, not just human life. However, predators are part of the natural process and we humans are predators at times even in our early history.
But in the process of being a predator, we all too often have upset the balance, and we still continue to do this today. As for myself, I do eat meat but usually only for a couple of meals per week. If one has ever seen or been next to a factory farm, they should know why.
Biologically, we are pretty much "naked apes" with big brains and a much more extensive and diverse set of cultures than they. From my faith perspective, I don't classify them as humans but I have a strong respect for all life, not just human life. However, predators are part of the natural process and we humans are predators at times even in our early history.
But in the process of being a predator, we all too often have upset the balance, and we still continue to do this today. As for myself, I do eat meat but usually only for a couple of meals per week. If one has ever seen or been next to a factory farm, they should know why.
Very confusing thread, choices, and your post. No coherent response possible from a incoherent thread.
dianaiad
Well-Known Member
Define 'greater,' and describe 'heaven' for us, in your view. Then we can have a discussion.
Thief
Rogue Theologian
lacking superlatives and some notion of a greater existence.....
you would be primate
your denial is pending?
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TagliatelliMonster
Veteran Member
Not any more or less then i am "greater" then a mammal or vertebrate or tetrapod or eukaryote or...
Salvador
RF's Swedenborgian
We humans are superior to the other great apes, because unlike them, we can control ignitions of fire, read, write, sing, dance, laugh, plant and harvest crops, and construct skyscrapers and monuments.
I suspect we humans, unlike other great ape species, received God-given souls when the first generation of Homo habilis had incestuously bred with each other and reproduced the next subsequent generation of the genus Homo-species that had formed from a couple of Australopithecus hetero zygotes, each of whom had the same type of chromosome rearrangements formed by fusion of the whole long arms of two acrocentric chromosomes, mated together and reproduced viable and fertile offspring with 46 chromosomes.
I suspect we humans, unlike other great ape species, received God-given souls when the first generation of Homo habilis had incestuously bred with each other and reproduced the next subsequent generation of the genus Homo-species that had formed from a couple of Australopithecus hetero zygotes, each of whom had the same type of chromosome rearrangements formed by fusion of the whole long arms of two acrocentric chromosomes, mated together and reproduced viable and fertile offspring with 46 chromosomes.
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dianaiad
Well-Known Member
Please complete the following sentences.
I define 'heaven' as.......................
I define 'greater' as...........................
there's nothing for me to deny. All I did is ask you how you define a couple of words, so that when and if we talk about them, we both know how the other one defines them.
It's a really good idea to do that, especially when the language used isn't the first language of one or more of the participants.
I know how *I* define 'greater' and 'heaven,' and the definitions of both words varies with the context.
So how do YOU define them, in this context?
Oh.....and I'm quite aware that I'm a primate, thank you.
Are you Greater than an Ape?
Humans are great apes, but to your thread title...
Swings and roundabouts, in my environment i am probably, on balance the greater ape. In the environment of a wild ape, i am absolutely not greater.
Your questions... What? They don't make much sense to me and would probably make even less sense to another species of great ape.
And your OP. Show heaven exists, show it has intelligence and can rationalise such questions.
Humans are great apes, but to your thread title...
Swings and roundabouts, in my environment i am probably, on balance the greater ape. In the environment of a wild ape, i am absolutely not greater.
Your questions... What? They don't make much sense to me and would probably make even less sense to another species of great ape.
And your OP. Show heaven exists, show it has intelligence and can rationalise such questions.
SA Huguenot
Well-Known Member
Now I understand the problem on this here earth.
I am not an ape, and my ancestors were not ape.
I am a descendent of the Human God created in His immage.
There are many of us here on this Earth.
However, there are others by their own admission that are not human.
They are apes, and if they look like humans, they are relatives of apes.
They also think they are very clever and act as humans would, but they are actually very stupid..
This is why they have no love for the lives of humans.
They persecute Humans, mock them, call them unenlightened, close minded, and tell them they believe in a fairy tale god.
Yet, they have this terrible religion where they believe their children are more human, and their parents more ape than they themself.
What a mess they are in!
I am not an ape, and my ancestors were not ape.
I am a descendent of the Human God created in His immage.
There are many of us here on this Earth.
However, there are others by their own admission that are not human.
They are apes, and if they look like humans, they are relatives of apes.
They also think they are very clever and act as humans would, but they are actually very stupid..
This is why they have no love for the lives of humans.
They persecute Humans, mock them, call them unenlightened, close minded, and tell them they believe in a fairy tale god.
Yet, they have this terrible religion where they believe their children are more human, and their parents more ape than they themself.
What a mess they are in!
Now I understand the problem on this here earth.
I am not an ape, and my ancestors were not ape.
I am a descendent of the Human God created in His immage.
There are many of us here on this Earth.
However, there are others by their own admission that are not human.
They are apes, and if they look like humans, they are relatives of apes.
They also think they are very clever and act as humans would, but they are actually very stupid..
This is why they have no love for the lives of humans.
They persecute Humans, mock them, call them unenlightened, close minded, and tell them they believe in a fairy tale god.
Yet, they have this terrible religion where they believe their children are more human, and their parents more ape than they themself.
What a mess they are in!
I really do not understand why creationists can get it so wrong despite the myriad evidence.
dianaiad
Well-Known Member
Just musing here....
I am a believer in heaven and an afterlife. That said, I'm going to approach this in a 'non-religious' way.
Are we 'greater' than apes?
Well, there are a lot more of us. We can...perhaps not individually, but certainly in a group...live anywhere any ape can live, and in a whole bunch of places any one species of them can't.
We can kill all of the apes off, and have been in a fair way of doing just that. They can't kill us off.
We use tools and adapt to different circumstances very well, which is one reason we can kill 'em all off and they can't return the favor ("Planet of the Apes" IS, after all, fiction).
My personal beliefs are that they have spirits which go on just as we do. What makes us potentially 'greater,' is this:
We CAN kill them all off. They can't kill us off.
MOST of us understand that it would be a Very Bad Thing to do so.
Apes, though to be honest they wouldn't think to try to kill us all off, wouldn't be bothered even a little bit by doing so.
Whether that makes us 'greater' than our cousins or not might be up for debate, but that's my opinion.
We are smart enough to understand that our decisions and actions have long term consequences, and to plan accordingly. Apes (and most, if not all, other animals) aren't.
That means that we CAN be 'greater' than them....but it also means that we can be incredibly less than them. Freedom of choice is a very nasty double bladed weapon.
I am a believer in heaven and an afterlife. That said, I'm going to approach this in a 'non-religious' way.
Are we 'greater' than apes?
Well, there are a lot more of us. We can...perhaps not individually, but certainly in a group...live anywhere any ape can live, and in a whole bunch of places any one species of them can't.
We can kill all of the apes off, and have been in a fair way of doing just that. They can't kill us off.
We use tools and adapt to different circumstances very well, which is one reason we can kill 'em all off and they can't return the favor ("Planet of the Apes" IS, after all, fiction).
My personal beliefs are that they have spirits which go on just as we do. What makes us potentially 'greater,' is this:
We CAN kill them all off. They can't kill us off.
MOST of us understand that it would be a Very Bad Thing to do so.
Apes, though to be honest they wouldn't think to try to kill us all off, wouldn't be bothered even a little bit by doing so.
Whether that makes us 'greater' than our cousins or not might be up for debate, but that's my opinion.
We are smart enough to understand that our decisions and actions have long term consequences, and to plan accordingly. Apes (and most, if not all, other animals) aren't.
That means that we CAN be 'greater' than them....but it also means that we can be incredibly less than them. Freedom of choice is a very nasty double bladed weapon.
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