If an Animal is as Smart as a Human, Do Human Rights Follow?

Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Unsplash

If you give a chimpanzee a word processor, could they write a novel? A friend asked me that, admittedly after drinking. He was talking about gene editing and opined that unethical scientists would soon turn a monkey into a rocket scientist — or the next Hemingway.

Gene editing can eliminate many human problems, including most cancer, heart attacks, and other…