My Sunday Thought for 062418: A Planet of the Apes?

“Why are there no nonhuman primates with an existing complex gestural language? One possible answer, it seems to me, is that humans have systematically exterminated those other primates who displayed signs of intelligence.”

-- Carl Sagan (1934-1996), astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author

"An Orangutan from a zoo was reintroduced to the wild in Borneo and began spear fishing after watching local fisherman..."  This tale bodes the obvious question: If the fisherman was using the spear to murder another fisherman, would the Orangutan also mimic this act?  Well, from what I've read, killing among the great apes seems to be for cause, murder not being one of them.  Having said this, the Orangutan seems to have recently garnered legal rights which, unfortunately, seem to rank them closer to us than they would, perhaps, approve.

Humans often kill their own without cause.  We have the intelligence to preplan the act of killing, of murdering another being.  How bad was it?  Bad enough that we enacted laws to prohibit such egregious activity amongst ourselves.  The law is pretty simple:  Generally, if you kill someone without cause, we reserve the right to kill you back, and even if you do have cause, we might determine the need to kill you back anyway.  Wild animals, on the other hand, seldom have the legal recourse with which to plead their case.  We will euthanize a killing animal simply for protecting itself or its territory from humans, or for killing livestock because humans have over hunted the land leaving the top of the food chain wanting.  But euthanizing primates might be changing if they're genetic relationship to man continues to be redefined as evidenced by Argentina's 2014 ruling:

In December 2014, Argentina became the first country to recognize a non-human primate as having legal rights when it ruled that an orangutan named Sandra at the Buenos Aires Zoo must be moved to a sanctuary in Brazil in order to provide her "partial or controlled freedom". Although animal rights groups interpreted the ruling as applicable to all species in captivity, legal specialists considered the ruling only applicable to hominid apes due to their genetic similarities to humans.-- Wikipedia, "Orangutan"

The question then arises as to what our definition of humanoid is.  When do we see a simian culture as an intelligent society of living creatures?  One must reflect on what an advanced extraterrestrial "alien" culture my think of us, in similar circumstances.  Will we inhabit their zoos and will we, for lack of any other weapon, throw our feces at the onlookers for laughing and poking fun at us?  Will we scratch ourselves, pick our butts, and dutifully eat our bananas?  What is the line to be drawn, by us, for recognition of an intelligent species?  As in Argentina, our definition would seem to be changing as we learn more about the minds in the animal kingdom.

“A century ago, people laughed at the notion that we were descended from monkeys. Today, the individuals most offended by that claim are the monkeys.”

-- Jacob M. Appel, author, poet, bioethicist, physician, lawyer

So, maybe our definition should be based on some social scale?  Many studies have been done, and are ongoing, concerning social interaction among simian groups.  They have social hierarchy, structure and order, leadership, elders, soldiers, scouts, lookouts, and so on.  They court, love, play, grieve, judge, punish, ostracize, shun, and exile.  They hunt, fish, gather, and share.  They tend to raise their young communally and teach them how to survive and be a part of their social structure. So, just how different are we humans from our simian counterparts, other than advanced intelligence?  Well, I found a couple of divergent thoughts which might shed some light on just how "unique" we think we are.  See if you agree with me that Ms. Kassem's description of gorilla life seems to be debating Mr. Westoll's assertion of human uniqueness:

“Humans are unique in having the astonishing capacity to extend our sympathies far beyond the here and now. through time and space, to anywhere and anything we choose. It is our culture that decides how large and inclusive our moral circle is, but it is each of us who makes up our culture.”

-- Andrew Westoll, "Charles Taylor Prize" winning writer

“When gorillas smell danger, they run around and call out to the rest of the primates in the jungle to warn them something evil is coming. And when one of their own dies, they mourn for days while beating themselves up in sadness for failing to save that gorilla, even if the cause of death was natural. And when one colony is mourning, their chilling echoes migrate to other colonies — and those neighbors, even if they are territorial rivals, will also grieve with them. When faced with a common danger, rivals turn into allies. And when faced with death, the loss of just one gorilla becomes the loss of the entire jungle.”

-- Suzy Kassem

Another interesting study is one concerning an elephant's sense of self and, by extension, its possible sense of God.  Personally, I found this video chilling, and sad.  I can spend paragraphs explaining it, or you can follow this link and watch the interesting video for yourself:  Elephants in the Mirror - Animal Self-Consciousness.

“If we look straight and deep into a chimpanzee's eyes, an intelligent self-assured personality looks back at us. If they are animals, what must we be?”

-- Frans de Waal, primatologist, ethologist

How many more animals exhibit a sense of self beside apes, dolphins, and elephants, heaven only knows.  If having a "sense of self" is a major stepping stone to having a sense of God, then the possibility that intelligent alien life will also have a theist philosophy might be almost certain.  Granted, they might have outgrown, or have never needed, organized religion.   They might naturally accept having a personal relationship, their own definition and philosophy, of an ultimate power, a god, and how this power guides the universe.  They might have been intelligent enough from the outset to simply grasp the concept of a supreme power and accept the existence of said power as a logical part of universal reality.  It could be that animals, for all of our egotistical chest beating while declaring ourselves the most intelligent of species, will show themselves to be all the smarter for a simple acceptance which has not been over thought by theologians, philosophers, and clergy.

How closely related are ape and man?  We tend to act like apes more than men, so maybe we really aren't far apart.  The fact that they seem to live well, without all of our baggage, makes me wonder which of us is really the more civilized.  The fact that the more smarter and peaceful of the two seems unlikely to inherit the earth seems directly due to the more intelligent of the two decimating the population of the other - proof, perhaps, that the meek really will inherit the earth when the more "intelligent" destroy their own world.  We have a thirst for knowledge and a desire to be more than we are.  Perhaps apes have been around long enough to have seen what this thirst can accomplish.  Perhaps they weren't impressed.  

The earth will always abide, as will nature.  It is man who will ultimately have to choose a different path or risk going down in some future history as another dead end branch of the human evolutionary tree.  And what if man fails?  Who will be the new custodians of the earth?  If any primates are allowed to survive, it would seem well likely mankind would have foretold their own doom, on feature films.  The earth may, in fact, become a "planet of the apes." 

“No existing form of anthropoid ape is even remotely related to the stock which has given rise to man.”

-- Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857-1935), geologist, paleontologist, eugenist

The quote above has been proven wrong, and yet it is so very right, as far as the apes are concerned.  The dichotomy would seem dependent on whether you're ape or man.  Sometimes I wonder if animals hide how intelligent they really are, acting like primitive brutes to disguise their true nature.  Next time you're visiting the Great Ape exhibit at your local zoo and a gorilla throws his excrement at you, consider yourself lucky he didn't have the makings for a spear.  If he seems to be scratching his privates he's probably looking passed you to your wife or girlfriend, so try to have some respect; you're probably related. 

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider another viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion in an arena of mutual respect concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 23 years with United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with a world renowned Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects in pharmaceutical research. Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, to wage his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteers as lead Chaplain and Chaplain Program Liaison, at the regional medical center.