So Similar, So Different

 

2020

Digitally combined Lino prints

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The goal of all living organisms is to survive and reproduce, and their success in doing so depends on how well individuals are adapted to their environment and the ways in which they deal with external factors. 

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Humans are the only living organisms who don’t share this primary goal and are the only living organisms that are not subject to environmental factors. Individual humans don’t share the instinctual goal of producing as many offspring as possible; we are the only species in which individuals actively choose whether to reproduce or not, and how much to do so. Natural selection no longer applies to humankind, because instead of adapting to our environment as all other living organisms do, humans adapt the environment to suit ourselves as we are. This brings about the question: can we still be considered animals?

 

This piece compares the physical and biological similarities of humans and the animal which is the most closely related to us – the chimpanzee. Humans share 99 percent of our genes with chimpanzees. With the text “so similar, so different”, this piece questions what it is that makes us so different to other animals, if not out biological makeup.