What defines a human?
”What defines a human? Biologically, the DNA. But humans and chimps share 98.8% of their DNA, is there really so much of a difference? People with down syndrome have one chromosome more, females with Turner syndrome have one chromosome less. Does that make them not human?"
"Or are humans defined by their intelligence, their general behavior? Some scientists claim that dolphins have the intelligence of a three-year-old human. That’s smarter than some humans with mental disabilities. So are mentally disabled people less human than dolphins? I see everyone in this room shaking their head in disgust. But I want you to ask yourself one big question: Why do we put humans above every other animal?”
A man in the audience raised a hand.
”Because we’re more successful than other animals. We’ve built cities, we have the technology to travel into outer space. And we’re about to found our first colony on Mars.”
Dr. Stuart nodded.
”Good answer. We’re more successful. We made it to the top of not only the food chain but every chain imaginable. But in the past decades, people fought more and more for animal rights. Every day, more people go vegetarian or even vegan. They fight against animal abuse, but they also fight against animals being used in research. And exactly this fight has brought us here today. Kim, would you please come up on the stage?”
A tiny blonde girl stood up from her seat in the first row and slowly climbed up the stairs. When she arrived at the top, she turned around to the audience, squinted her eyes and blinked into the bright lights.
”This little girl here was born with damaged kidneys. From the moment she was born, she had to be on dialysis. Luckily, scientists were finally able to grow an organ from human stem cells – inside a pig.”
A whisper went through the crowd. Hundreds of eyes focused on Kim, who bit her lower lip and nervously shuffled her feet. She was clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation. Disregarding the child’s anxiety, Dr. Stuart continued.
”When scientists had first been able to inject a pig embryo with human stem cells, only a tiny percentage of embryos actually survived and not all of them were able to grow the human organs. And the organs that did grow contained too much pig DNA to be used in a human. But now, after decades of research and billions of dollars, it has finally been done. Kim here received kidneys that were grown with her own stem cells. No long wait for a donor and, even years after the transplant, no rejection or other medical issues. This ladies and gentlemen, is the future!”
Scared by the noise of a thousand question that followed the great reveal, Kim ran off the stage and out of the building the press conference was held in. A light drizzling rain wet her face as she took deep breaths and tried to calm herself.
She had told her parents that she didn’t want to stand there on the stage, that she didn’t want to be dragged in front of the whole world. Now everyone would know. The teasing would never stop. Pig girl some kids at school called her. Murderer was the name some of the others preferred. She wasn’t sure which was worse.
Kim could barely remember the day she got her new kidneys. It had been 4 years ago when she was only 5 years old. But the relief she felt when she was told that she wouldn’t need to come in for dialysis anymore? That was still fresh in her mind. But then word got out where here transplants had come from and the whole school turned on her.
When she had told her parents that even some of her teachers shot her disgusted glances, she had been able to switch schools. But the bliss of being the new, unknown kid quickly faded. Somehow, they found out too.
Kim knew that many people were disgusted by the thought of a hybrid, a chimera of a pig and a human. And she knew that animal testing was something a big part of the population had been heavily criticizing for decades. But it didn’t change the fact that her life had been saved through this procedure. She didn’t think it was the perfect solution, but she was thankful that it had been a possibility.
Her mother had once told her that people loved to make their opinion heard when a problem didn’t concern them directly. But as soon as the circumstances are right, they often chose the road they condemned others for. There was more than one pro-lifer who got an abortion. There would be more than one animal’s rights activist who’d happily accept a heart or a lung or any other organ grown in a pig if they were dying.
Hypocrisy had always been one of humanity's defining characteristics.
Kim wiped the rain off her face, took a deep breath and headed back into the building. Maybe it wasn’t possible to define exactly what’s wrong and what’s right. All she knew was that she was alive and would be alive for many years to come.
And she was determined to try to use this life in the best way possible.
Click here to read about my stance on animal testing
Special thanks to @emptyintentions who suggested the topic!
Sources:
Human-Pig Hybrid Created in the Lab—Here Are the Facts
DNA: Comparing Humans and Chimps
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To my knowledge the number of human chromosomes is different from animals, because every living thing has a different chromosome. Humans have somatic cells (sperm cells and ovum cells) of 46 chromosomes.
Thus in humans there are 46 chromosomes in somotik cells, one maternal selt (mother) and a paternal set (father).
The answer of human degrees is higher than animals?
Humans have the mental to put into life.
Then humans are described as living beings who have a sense of responsibility to all living things on this earth @suesa
Thank you, interesting post
What defines a human? Anyone's ability to read this article and think about it. Human imagination is what seperates us from the rest of the animals, atleast in the cognitive part. Early human societies have always been characterized by beliefs in common imaginery creations like religions, nations and the monetary system. This has pretty much been happening throughout the human history with various events proving the inevitable direction for any major goal accomplishment-cooperation. People have been cooperating, shaping goverments, corporations, communities, etc because its simply easier to work together in order to achieve what one cannot do on his own.
So as much as we want to deny it, common myths and fantasies float around our everyday life like ducks in a pool. So why haven't we been able to get rid of them or atleast minimize the inevitable drawbacks that they come with? (fanatism,genocides, etc)
Its because of the simple fact that those fantasies are connected with the material world around us and most importantly with the people we care about, blending the cognitive with the emotional part. So its not so simple to just reject any kind of bullshit you have been told since you were born because those things are the ones (atleast in a small percentage) that defined you in the first place!
And you cannot consciously delete memories/experiences just because you choose too.
So in the end I think that a human is defined by his evolved cognition but at the same time caged by it in a subconscious way, making us quite an ironic existence in this universe.
So you are no human if you cannot understand English? 😉
I'm not sure that we can rule out animal culture just because we don't understand it. Who knows if they tell stories and fairytales, or if they have societies.
Well it so happens that the communicative code of this forum seems to be the english language, although It would be easier for me to write in greek haha. 😊
Yes you are right about the animal world, for sure I and we humans as a society cannot really understand their whole world and for sure shouldnt reject it. But I was refering to the enormous power difference between the species as a result of the human ability to work with each other. Not as an admiration or criticism but as a undeniable fact. We humans have managed to do both amazing and terrible things to each other and to the ecosystem itself. A behaviour that just proves that we clearly seem to forget we are just temporary guests ;)
I'd probably not count as a human if greek was the default here 😅 Really liking your ideas, looking forward to hearing them on the next posts @suesa makes 😎
You got it!
Greetings from sunny Greece :)
I love Greece 😍
Its a wonderful country for holidays! I hope you and @reggaemuffin can come and enjoy the amazing landscape and history :)
The line is sure to get even blurrier as time goes on.
To me, it never made sense to be obsessed with what is and isn't human. Perhaps a more interesting question is what it takes to experience well-being, regardless of the biological (or non-biological) vehicle that enables it for an individual being.
You're probably familiar with Peter Singer, but I would highly recommend his book The Expanding Circle for anyone fascinated about how our ethical concerns apply increasingly to non-human beings, and how it might evolve further.
”What defines a human? Biologically, the DNA. But humans and chimps share 98.8% of their DNA, is there really so much of a difference? People with down syndrome have one chromosome more, females with Turner syndrome have one chromosome less. Does that make them not human?"
I love this statement!!!
Question of the day, if we were able to grow a human organ from a giant cockroaches would this be and issue???
Ignoring the fact that it's biologically unlikely that it would work, it would probably be less of a problem.
As far as I know, you need to fill out a lot of paperwork and follow many rules to experiment on vertebrates, but insects? Those can usually be used as much as you want.
Someone at my university is writing her thesis about using bees instead of mice to test epilepsy medication because of this exact reason.
So yes, cockroach organs might actually be less ethically problematic.
I know right, working on mammals requires tons of paper work, but if we are working with fish, and worms or bacteria, no one cares lol
I massacre billions of life each day!! die bacteria die lol
Bravo @suesa...!!! What an intriguing story of a little girl. Hypocrisy flows in the veins of us all. And we, as liberal society carry a fesade before us. It's so easy to point fingers at others, without trying to understand their position. Introspection is something we all need to do to stop victimizing people who do not deserve to be punished. This girl is alive, all because of the organ which was generated artificially inside a pig, but that's not her problem. And no one has any rights to ask her to have embraced death over a pig kidney. I am sure people who defame her today would accept a snakes skin, if needed for thier survival.
You have found a follower in me, as I do work in fiction and I liked your work a lot. ✌️✌️Peace..!!
We are spiritual beings , we are conscious , that's what make us human , DNA is for the structure of our body and our bodies are a part of the physical world it is locked in the 3 dimensional realm and our consciousness is a pure energy thing from another realm , so together our body and our consciousness make us humans !
Good read. Things usually fall in the grey area for me on topics like this. No one really knows what they would or would not do until they are faced with a difficult situation. I try to keep an open mind.
excellent, I loved Philosophical article.
Is that the humans is truly intelligent, The human does not stop to kill each other And destroys nature.
0.01% of humans are rich so the rest of the people are morons ?
Who are humans The selfish ones Or good people ?
Why tell someone who makes a good gesture that he and Human ?
good continuation
ill say we should have bookmarks for fav authors here. i mean, many of them are good, and i want to read them, but theres some i dont want to miss their posts at all.
propose for some of future writings / Locked in syndrome.
Very happy you like my writing! Your suggestion is noted, great topic :D
I whole-heartedly agree. @suesa good read! :)
@suesa I read the whole article, beautiful! I think you are perfectly right with hypocrisy being a defining human characteristic. Many people would condemn this type of procedure but what if they were the ones in that situation, or someone they love? Would their resistance be the same ? I really think not.