What Separates Us from Chimps? As It Turns Out, Not Much

Neurologist Robert Sapolsky explores the genetic differences between humans and chimps, and describes the few genes that make our species unique. Our two species share over ninety-eight percent of the same genes, with only one major trait separating us from other primates: an abundance of neurons in the brain.

“Take a chimp brain fetally and let it go two or three more rounds of division and you get a human brain instead,” says Sapolsky. “And, out come symphonies, ideologies and hopscotch.”

Complete video – Robert Sapolsky: Are Humans Just Another Primate <–+

The Illusion Of Complexity – Neuroactivity And Complex Behaviour

Nature gives us a lot of examples of complex behavior emerging from the interaction of many individuals. The members of an ant colony are capable of a wide variety of complex behaviors: finding and transporting food, constructing elaborate underground complexes of tunnels and chambers, defending their territory from invaders.

Such activity would seem to involve a great deal of planning, memory, and coordination. But there is no head ant who draws up a blueprint for the colony and gives directions to the worker ants. Instead, each ant follows a very simple set of rules, based on cues from its environment and from the activity of ants nearby

Complexity is in the mind of the beholder