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Should Chimps Have Human Rights?
An anonymous reader writes "A Brazilian court has already issued a writ of habeas corpus in the name of a chimp. And now an Austrian court may well decide that a chimpanzee is a 'person' with what up until now have been called human rights." From the story in the Guardian/Observer: "He recognizes himself in the mirror, plays hide-and-seek and breaks into fits of giggles when tickled. He is also our closest evolutionary cousin. A group of world leading primatologists argue that this is proof enough that Hiasl, a 26-year-old chimpanzee, deserves to be treated like a human. In a test case in Austria, campaigners are seeking to ditch the 'species barrier' and have taken Hiasl's case to court. If Hiasl is granted human status — and the rights that go with it — it will signal a victory for other primate species and unleash a wave of similar cases."
does no editor look at the fucking date stamp? jeez, this must be the latest april fools i have ever seen. only on slashdot. the real monkey is kdawson.
"The only difference between a young child and a chimp is that that child has a slightly greater genetic complexity than the chimp."
One more slight difference: The human is... human. Which makes it much more interesting for other humans to grant rights to that human. Frankly, there's little more than annoyance to be gained from granting broad rights to chimps. The concept of human rights, on the other hand, have greatly improved the lot of most humans. Chimp rights would greatly improve the lot of chimps, of course, but why should I care?
So you're putting the life of a dung beetle on the same level as the life of a human being. Right. Will the insanity never stop?
occultae nullus est respectus musicae - originally a Greek proverb
There's a large body of evidence that the soul does not exist, there is no evidence that the soul does exist. Make your conclusions.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
Not long ago certain former "leader of the free world" took away its citizens' habeas-corpus provision.
Wait, did I miss something? When did this happen? Have there really been citizens of the US who have been arrested and detained without habeas corpus rights? If so, name one. If not, stop with the hyperbole (and lying).
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
Many people think that the soul is your 'concious' the thing that make you who you are.
If I were to measure it it would be interms of neurons etc... and you could say that it exists (but I wouldn't call it a soul) if a religious person were to measure it it would be some kind of supernatural thing that passes on when you die. And you know why they call it 'supernatural', because that's what we call things that don't exist in the real world and only exist in the imaginary world created by fairy tales.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.