| | Bridget,
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As for making a retarded human from an ape/human recombination, I find that to be very doubtful due to the fact that many apes tend to test out around the average intellect of a six year old human.
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Bridget, you've gone too far here. You've made a statement that can not only be rebutted, but refuted. You proclaim that some apes can "test out" around the average intellect of a 6 year old. Nonsense. What's the test, Bridget? Counting? Word recognition? Traversing a maze? Building with blocks? For starters, here's some evidence regarding "counting apes" for example, digging up an old argument I had with the now-deceased Nathan Hawking ...
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It is rationality that differentiates apes from us. Results from ape trials are most parsimoniously explained (ie. best explained), by appeal to the 4 perceptual powers of awareness (ie. perception, memory, imagination, and "crude associations"--a mix of memory and perceived, but non-integrated, particulars). Here are some results of some ape trials to make this point clear and unmistakable:
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"Both chimpanzees performed substantially and reliably above chance in collecting a quantity of dots equal to the target numeral, one chimpanzee for the numerals 1 to 7, and the second chimpanzee for the numerals 1 to 6."
From:
http://www.geocities.com/mjberan/counting_pub.html
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The first point to take away from these results is that the apes did not decisively learn the numbers. What would you say, Nathan, about a 1st grader performing "reliably above chance" in counting to 7? Would you say she is exercising her mind's capacity--or would a red flag go up, pointing to a possible developmental disorder for this 6-year-old child?
The second point (again, pointing to a "perception-only" conclusion) is that the total amount of numbers used, lies within a margin of error for short-term memory (ie. for perceptual powers). Crows can perceive (and remember) up to 3 distinct things. Humans can perceive (and remember) about 7-10 distinct things--such as a 7-10 digit telephone number. It is thus highly plausible that apes can perceive (and remember) 6-7 distinct things.
Here is another ape trial (with evidence pointing in the same direction) ...
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In Boysen’s tests, where choosing the smaller of two quantities of candy resulted in receiving a greater reward, chimpanzees chose the smaller quantity 27 percent of the time.
However, in otherwise identical trials that used numerical symbols rather than candies, they were able to choose the smaller quantity 66 percent of the time.
From:
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/2002/4/orangcount.cfm
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Not only are these success rates paltry (again, imagine 1st graders getting these same percentages--after repeated testing!)--but they show the unmistakable superiority of symbol memorization (where numerical symbols led to more than twice the success rate), over a rationalization of true counting prowess.
Nathan, unless you can marshall compelling evidence and reasoning (as I have done here), I consider this problem solved.
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Bottom Line:
Apes could never pass kindergarten to enter the 1st grade.
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If anything, I bet that such a creature would be on par with us, considering that the genetic difference between us and the apes approximates to a slim 2%.
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You're mixing categories here. You speak of genotypic difference, when you should be concerned about phenotypic difference. All that really matters in life is a phenotype. Yes, it's true, there's only about a 2% genetic difference between chimps and humans - but, would you go so far as to say that there is only a 2% difference in body hair (ie. phenotype) between a human and a chimp? Think about it.
;-)
Ed
[has opposable thumbs]
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