What Makes Us Human?

There are all kinds of evolution. How did we become human when we share 98% of our genes with chimps? Part of this has to do with superior brain power–we have at least 300,000 brain cells for each neuron in a fruit fly brain and supercomputers have more brain power than we do, which is why IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer was able to defeat chess champion Garry Kasparov. In LiveScience.com, Jeremy Hsu quotes primatologist Robert Sapolsky, who remembers Kasparov saying, "Sometimes quantity becomes quality." Basic biological units such as brain cells remain more or less the same across species, yet we humans have used their higher neuron count and complex brain networks to achieve an unmatched level of cognitive sophistication. So why aren’t chimps as accomplished as we are? Hsu quotes Sapolsky as saying, "We have the same nuts-and-bolts physiology, yet we’re using it in very novel ways." Some people think that ETs created humans by pumping up primate brain cells. Could WE do this to create smarter chimps, that could (for instance) labor in dangerous places where humans no longer want to go? Or what about making HUMANS smarter (something the Visitors may be doing right now). Hsu quotes Sapolsky as saying, "I think it would transform reality TV as we know it."