Lay people wanadhani ni rahisi kiasi hivyo kwa sababu hawaelewi the science behind it. At least soma hii article halafu tafakari ni Sawa na kile ulichotangaziwa darasani au?
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I. Introduction
Evolutionists offer a number of arguments in support of common descent, i.e., the claim that all life descended from a common ancestor. One of the more prom- inent arguments, an argument that figures heavily in lay conversations and the public consciousness writ large, is as follows: When we look across the animal world and organisms more broadly, we find that there are “striking genetic sim- ilarities” between species with otherwise distinct phenotypes (i.e., distinct ob- servable characteristics). For example, despite significant differences in each or- ganism’s external traits, chimpanzee and human genomes are approximately 99% identical1 (or 98%,2 96%,3 94%4 depending on the research study).
Popular scientists, like Richard Dawkins, often employ claims of human-chimp genetic similarity to further arguments about common descent and to oppose the notion of human exceptionalism and the Christian and Islamic narrative of hu- man origins from a created ancestor, namely Adam.5
What is often left unpresented to the non-specialist public are the details and distinctive nature of this “striking” genetic similarity so often touted by public intellectuals and scientific reporting alike.6
Taking a closer look at the scientific literature provides further information that puts these similarity claims into proper context. What is apparent is that the con- clusion of 99% similarity is an oversimplification, and the scientific conclusions drawn are much more cautious and, by themselves, much less definitive of com- mon descent than is often assumed in the public discourse.
1 King, M., and A. Wilson. “Evolution at Two Levels in Humans and Chimpanzees.” Science 188.4184 (1975): 107-116.
2 Wildman, D. E. “Implications Of Natural Selection In Shaping 99.4% Nonsynonymous DNA Identity Between Humans and Chimpanzees: Enlarging Genus Homo.” Proceed- ings of the National Academy of Sciences 100.12 (2003): 7181-7188.
3 NIH/National Human Genome Research Institute. “Comparing the chimp and human genomes.” N.p., 31 Aug. 2005. Web. 5 Apr. 2014.
http://genome.well- come.ac.uk/doc_WTD020730.html
4 Demuth, Jeffery P., et al. “The Evolution of Mammalian Gene Families.” PLoS ONE 1.1 (2006): e85.
5 “Richard Dawkins– Comparing the Human and Chimpanzee Genomes.” YouTube. 16 Mar. 2012. Web. 5 Apr. 2014.
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6 Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. “Comparison of human and chimpanzee genomes reveals striking similarities and differences.” Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Broad Institute Communications, 31 Aug. 2005. Web. 5 Apr. 2014.
Comparison of human and chimpanzee genomes reveals striking similarities and differences | Broad Institute.