Dear all
A request for information (especialy from the biologists out there). Is it
99.8% of active genes or simply strands of DNA that we share with the
higher primates. I ask this because we also hear that a high proportion of
our DNA is "junk" DNA which does not (at our present level of
understanding) code for anything. It is possible therefore that we share a
significantly smaller percentage of meaningful genes with our primate
cousins than the 99.8% suggests.
More generally, where is it written that cannibalism is wrong? Fish are
quite prone to it, (Trout and Pike being good examples). There are
degenerative brain diseases that human cannibalism transmits but this is a
practical rather than ethical problem. When lost in the Andes after a
plane crash the evidence suggests that we might make changes to our customs
and it would be difficult therefore to argue that cannibalism is a
universal wrong. How we judge the primate eaters may depend upon how we
assess the criticality of their need.
(I hope I do not need to convince anybody that I am not a cannibal and that
I do mourn extinctions)
Regards Paul K
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