Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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*Humans share about 99% of their DNA with chimpanzees. So what makes us so different?*

Joshua Swamidass explores the biological similarities between humans and other animals while explaining why language, technology, and culture may reveal something uniquely human.

0:00 What Biology Says About Human Nature
0:47 How Similar Are Humans and Chimpanzees?
1:36 Why Great Apes Never Developed Human Language
3:20 Do Great Apes Have Personhood?
5:01 Human Technology and Animal Tool Use
6:00 Why Did Only Humans Reach This Level?
8:01 Why Becoming Human May Be Evolutionarily Difficult

*S. Joshua Swamidass* is an American computational biologist, physician, academic, and author. He is an associate professor of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine, and a Faculty Lead of Translational Bioinformatics in the Institute for Informatics at Washington University in St. Louis.

*More from Joshue Swamidass on Closer To Truth:*
* Philosophy of Biology - Closer To Truth - Core Topic: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFJr3pJl27pI44Mgu6SGECQL2bKcE4dmc
* Closer To Truth contributors: closertotruth.com/contributor/joshua-swamidass

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Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

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