Science reporting seeks to undermine human exceptionalism at even the slimmest pretexts.
Case in point. A study concludes that human hands are less sophisticated than those of chimps (never mind how much more we have accomplished with ours. And the story begins by attacking human exceptionalism. From the Discovery News story:
Given our inherent human-centric viewpoint, we tend to think that our species is more advanced in all respects than other animals, but new research finds that human hands are more primitive than those of our closest primate ancestors: chimpanzees…
Our hands, however useful, may instead represent a very primitive anatomical structure that’s been around for millions of years.
Please. Many animals have far more advanced biological capacities than humans. Hawks have superior eyesight. Gorillas greater strength. Wolves, a far more advanced sense of smell. Bats fly.
These kind of attributes are not what make human beings exceptional as they are morally irrelevant. So too the length of time since a particular attribute may have evolved.
Also, notice the writer used the term “other animals,” an attempt to reduces us as equivalent with fauna.
Yes, I know humans are animals biologically. But the term also has a moral element, and that is the way in which I believe it was subtly wielded by the Discovery writer: We are just another animal in the forest, and with a more primitive hand, at that!