Are Humans the Greatest Things Created by the Human Hand?
What a waste are two thumbs on the
space bar. There they sit, nearly flaccid, punctuating the end of
each word, awaiting the call to crack stone or to use sharp flakes
to incise wood.
It is easy to think of other traits as making
us human. We talk, use metaphors, empathize, follow fashions, laugh,
play politics and Angry Birds. But many of us still work with our
hands, crafting fine objects or simple tools, digging and harvesting.
Or texting. As they have always done, thumbs and fingers connect us
to our social lives.
No living ape has such digits, each long thumb with its own wide, flat fingertip bone. Ape thumbs are short afterthoughts, jutting awkwardly below the long, strong bones of the hand. No ape supplies each thumb with its own , deep in the
