What’s a completely useless fact you love sharing?

View all responses

A useless fact is something that is technically true but doesn’t really help anyone. It often starts with, “Well actually…” or “Technically speaking…”. I must confess that I am someone who enjoys sharing useless facts. I also like correcting grammatical mistakes. I know, I am annoying. So here’s one useless fact that I like to share with others:

Humans are apes.

Technically speaking, humans are part of the great apes family. Which is part of the ape superfamily. In everyday language we use ape to mean other apes but not humans. In fact, calling a human an ape is supposed to be an insult. But the truth is that it is technically true. We are apes.

This little situation actually sheds light on the position of Human Exceptionalism that most people take for granted. When we followed religious myths, we considered humans to be superior to animals and in a league of their own. We said that god made us in his image. Even scientists believed in human exceptionalism for a long time and it’s only now that this view is beginning to be challenged. It seems like the difference between humans and animals isn’t that great after all.

In my opinion, the biggest difference between us and animals is our complex language. Complex language, the kind that lets you build abstract concepts and tell stories, is a super powerful tool. It has allowed an ape to build rockets and computers and AI. But underneath it all we’re just apes.

Well look at that! I turned the useless fact into something useful by going in too deep. That’s philosophy for you!

Cover Photo by Rob Schreckhise on Unsplash