Genesis Impact Movie Clip - Human and Chimp DNA
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A clip from our "Genesis Impact" movie. Visit www.genesisimpact.com for the full movie.
Does human and chimp DNA overlap by 98%? The idea that human and chimp DNA overlap by 98 to 99 percent has been widely used to promote the idea that humans and chimps shared a common ancestor millions of years ago. But have you considered how they came up with this estimate?
For our technical video on this topic, see here: https://genesisapologetics.com/chimpdna/
- 00:00
- Do natural history museums present the truth about origins? Watch our Genesis Impact movie to see a young Christian successfully challenge a museum docent on the leading evidences for evolution.
- 00:37
- Does what we believe about creation or evolution even matter? Or does what we believe about our ancient past have any impact on our lives today?
- 00:47
- Can we just believe whatever we want and live our lives the best we can? What about the
- 00:53
- Bible? How many people today will trust what it says about salvation if they believe it doesn't get the beginning correct?
- 01:02
- I mean, how many pages will we have to turn in the Bible to run into truth that we can trust? You see, there's one simple question, and depending on how we answer that question can cause our lives to hang in the balance.
- 01:17
- Where do we come from? Sir, I have a question.
- 01:23
- Well, quite a few questions, actually. Uh, okay, go ahead. Ask away. Well, you mentioned that one of the leading evidences that humans evolved from an ape -like ancestor is that human and chimp
- 01:35
- DNA is 98 % similar. Uh, yes. Well, how big is the human genome?
- 01:41
- How many base pairs? Well, the exact figure varies over the years, but the last count was 3 .097
- 01:51
- billion base pairs. And how about chimps? The last count was 3 .231
- 01:57
- billion. Okay, so chimps have about 134 million more base pairs than we have, which means their genome is about 4 .3
- 02:12
- % bigger. How is it possible to say that our DNA is like 98 % similar when actually it's 4 .3
- 02:21
- % bigger? Well, when they made the comparison between our genome and theirs, they were so different that they had to break them apart into chunks that were similar, and then the comparisons were made.
- 02:32
- How much of the human and chimp genome did they leave out? Well, when they came up with the 98 % similarity figure, they excluded 25 % of the human genetic material and 18 % of the chimps.
- 02:44
- Isn't that called cherry -picking? Well, you may see it that way. Sure seems like it to me.
- 02:56
- I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean any disrespect. I just, I've been doing a lot of research and I'm really fascinated by all this.
- 03:03
- You know, there's no need to apologize. I like it when people do a little critical thinking. Thank you, sir.
- 03:10
- Well, how similar are the human and chimp genomes when the entire genome is compared, without cherry -picking like that?
- 03:17
- Well, when the researchers factored in the non -similar data into the comparisons, the similarities were only between 66 % and 86%.
- 03:26
- That's a lot less than 98%. Doesn't sound very similar to me. Well, they recently re -sequenced the chimp genome, and the technology's getting better.
- 03:36
- So what did the new study show? Let's see. Okay, well, here it is.
- 03:47
- Based on the new data in 2018, they now say the human and chimp DNA similarity is a maximum of 84%.
- 03:54
- But it says they didn't include the areas of human and chimp DNA that could not be matched up. So the actual estimate is lower.
- 04:04
- So we went from 98 % similarity to 84 % maximum similarity between the comparable regions, plus the chimp genome is 4 % bigger?
- 04:15
- Evolutionists claim that 98 % similarity figure supported their idea of humans branching off because they were so close.
- 04:23
- With the 84 % maximum similarity figure, there would obviously be way too many genetic changes to make within their supposed six -million -year timeline when humans supposedly branched off.
- 04:34
- I mean, we're talking hundreds of millions of additional changes above what their 98 % estimate would equate to.
- 04:41
- Yes, but the fact remains that we share many similar genes with apes. Wouldn't you agree? Well, yes.
- 04:49
- But we also share many similar genes with other mammals because we have similar metabolisms and biochemistries.
- 04:56
- It's a basic engineering principle. Common code doing a similar purpose? I mean,
- 05:01
- I could even pull up a National Geographic website with a gene calculator that shows me I'm 88 % similar to a mouse, 85 % similar to a cow, and 84 % similar to a dog.
- 05:12
- You really seem to know your stuff. You know, most people, they hear that 98 % figure, they have no idea about its limitations or where the figure even came from.
- 05:21
- Yes, and because the mantra has been quoted so long in so many places, most people just accept it as proof for evolution.