We still share with the chimps 99.4 percent of our active genes, ergo we are improved Apes.

We humans like to think of ourselves as the pinnacle of creation, and it is true that we are the most complicated things in the universe.
Our brain contains 100 billion cells, linked by 100 trillion synaptic connections.
Yet we are part of the evolutionary process, descended from bacteria who lived 3.5 billion years ago. In our mother’s womb each of us retraces the entire developmental span from amoeba to human being.
 Our species—Homo sapiens—is a primate that developed in Africa, splitting away from the chimpanzee line about 7 million years ago. We still share with the chimps 99.4 percent of our active genes, hard to accept but we are an improved apes.

Are we different from other animals? Can we transcend violence and savagery? As the wife of an Anglican bishop remarked upon hearing of Darwin’s theory: “Descended from apes! My dear, let us hope that it is not true; but if it is, let us pray that it will not become generally known.”11 Her comment echoes the fear that knowing the true nature of our ancestors threatens to unravel the social fabric.