Destroying Human Exceptionalism By Creating Human/Chimp Hybrids

I just don’t understand the emotional stake some people invest in convincing us that humankind is nothing special in the universe. Indeed, some, such as University of Washington psychology professor David P. Barash, are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to knock us off the pedestal of exceptionalism. This includes, as he urges in this piece published in the LA Times, creating human/chimp hybrids to prove that we are just a bunch of apes. (This is not the first time I have seen such advocacy.) And, bonus of bonuses, Barash believes, such a hybrid man/ape would prove that materialistic Darwinism is true.

Barash writes: “Should geneticists and developmental biologists succeed once again in joining human and nonhuman animals in a viable organism—as our ancient human and chimp ancestors appear to have done long ago—it would be difficult and perhaps impossible for the special pleaders to maintain the fallacy that Homo sapiens is uniquely disconnected from the rest of life...

“Moreover, the benefits of such a physical demonstration of human-nonhuman unity would go beyond simply discomfiting the naysayers, beyond merely bolstering a ‘reality based’ as opposed to a bogus ‘faith based’ worldview. I am thinking of the powerful payoff that would come from puncturing the most hurtful myth of all time, that of discontinuity between human beings and other life forms. This myth is at the root of our environmental destruction—and our possible self-destruction.”

Barash is so wrong: Believing that humans are special is not a “hurtful myth” that disconnects us from the rest of life. It is a powerful moral imperative that places upon our shoulders special—and uniquely human—duties to life and the planet. Indeed, if we come to disbelieve that humanity is an exceptional species, we will be dismantling one of the most important concepts in human affairs—the belief in human exceptionalism.

This would be catastrophic. I strongly believe that our widespread acceptance of our unique status in the known universe is precisely why we accept the human duty to treat animals humanely, preserve the environment (you won’t see elephants or any other animal giving a hoot about the destruction they cause), and promote universal human rights.

Let me also add that accepting the theory of evolution is perfectly consistent with believing in the concept of human exceptionalism, since it doesn’t matter whether we evolved into our special state of being through undirected mutation and natural selection or got here through divine or other intelligent intervention. Indeed, it matters not whether all there is to life is what we can measure and observe, or whether, to paraphrase Shakespeare, there is far more to life than are dreamt of in Dr. Barash’s philosophy.

Dr. Barash reveals his real purpose late in the column when, seemingly shaking with rage, he rails against Judeo/Christian belief as causing “speciesism.” Ah yes, that old bugaboo. Don’t we know that a rat, is a pig, is a dog, is a boy?

He should get a grip. If he and his ilk succeed in convincing humanity that we are just another animal in the forest, that is precisely how we will act.