It is greatly annoying me to have to listen to half the idiots on this message board continuously parrot out that new figure that says humans and chimp only differ in 99.4% of our DNA. That proves absolutely nothing. .6% is more than enough difference to separate a monkey from the goddamn moon!
most of our dna is junk. It doesn’t count, it’s never used, it’s crap.
most of the variation takes place in the gene expressions, rather than the genes themselves. What separates a heart ceel from a neuron? They have exactly the same dna, so they must be the same right? No! They’re completely different in form and function because different genes activated at different times produce widly different results. we may start with .6% difference, but that grows quickly with each moment we’re alive.
I’m sorry for this thread. I just had to vent sometihng, because every idiot on this board seems to feel the need to share the news that we’re bloob brothers with chimps. God, people are stupid.
I’ve met some pretty god damned clever chimps in my time though. In fact, I once met a chimp who was so clever that he never forgot to includes a cite or two along with his rants.
Very debatable. It may be extremely important, for example as a spacer in between messages. More needs to be learned about this before we can write it off as crap.
Well, I’m sure glad that this rant was only directed at the idiots on the board. That should make the rest of us feel pretty good.
(I, too, would like a citation, as I have not seen any posters, idiots or otherwise, putting forth the proposition that we are bloob brothers to chimps (or is that to bonobos?).)
I think you mean humans and chimps share 99.4% or their DNA.
We don’t know that the so-called “junk DNA” does nothing. We only know that we don’t know what it does, if anything.
Gene expression is integral to the DNA, and is one theorized possible function for the “junk DNA”, in fact. Saying that humans and chimps difer mainly due to gene expression is specious reasoning. They differe because their DNA differs. Period.
That’d be the irony, Bob. I’m guessing the OP meant we’re only different in the last .6%, but what do I know? I have the DNA of a chimpanzee. Thanks for reminding me, InquisitiveIdiot.
tomndebb, here’s one cite, though it hardly qualifies as half the idiots, as I know for sure I’m the only idiot on the boards, and I was fully behind my post in that thread.
Man, the OP sounds like he’s really pissed off to hear that he’s virtually identical to a chimp.
FTR, at least one scientist was quoted as saying that we’re close enough in DNA to qualify as the same genus (chimps are really “homo”). I think that’s pretty significant news.
I’d write off that comment unless there are suddenly set DNA percentage rules for taxonomy that sprang up while i was eating lunch earlier. Although people using BP (before present)instead of BC or BCE slipped by me until i read something using it at lunch today, so you never know. No clue what they use instead of AD or CE (P? that just sounds stupid)
And dangit, i wanted this to be about Ivory soap and parrots!
No, no… as much as I would like to attribute the title to another, I’m afraid that if we accept the old saw of “stupidity” stemming from ignorance, then my location (alliteration notwithstanding) proves that I’m the only idiot.
“New”? I thought this bit of trivia was a few decades old by now.
Before Present? How the hell does that work? Do they go through all the textbooks every year and add one to all the dates? Or is it just another way of dating everything from the birth of Christ without actually having to mention him by name?
