Modern humans look like multiple species, domestic dog breeds also look like multiple species?

[TheSpaceGnome]

If you ask someone though, they will tell you that all humans are the same species, and all domestic dogs are the same species.

Yet those same people will say that a chimpanzee and bonobo are separate species, and a wolf and coyote are separate species, even though in both cases, they can produce viable offspring with eachother.

Now this topic isn't new, and the general scientific consensus is that species is an arbitrary term in an evolutionary context (because there is no set line for when one species becomes another), but why are most people offended by (or oblivious to) the idea of that in humans, but not in other animals? And whats with the exception for domestic dogs and cats?

[Xia1994]

science isn't always right/accurate because it's a man made construct and humans are imperfect creatures but even logically if two different species can produce a viable, fully functioning offspring it indicates that those two species are the same species.

We can confirm that humans of different ethnicities/races have been able to create viable, fully functional offspring for yearssss and it's still happening today therefore all humans are of the same species. Same goes for animals any animal that can create a viable fully functioning offspring is of the same species.

They are creating human-animal hybrids these days the question as to whether those man made hybrids are of the same species as humans or animals or both is debatable and we are yet to see if scientist will successfully create a fully functioning human-animal hybrid one day and what society is going to do with such a creation.

By fully functioning i mean a hybrid that can actually integrate into society and depict more human qualities but we're yet to see what the scientists are planning exactly. It seems the hybrids they have made so far only have a limited number of human qualities and a higher number of animalistic qualities, so they seem more like animals but these scientists seem capable so we'll see.

[TheSpaceGnome]

The way that species get defined varies from clade to clade, sometimes its just a slight change in a pattern, or color difference. Other times a build or size or shape difference, and still other times no matter how many changes occcur we call it the same thing.

There is no one set of rules that gets applied to all of them, though I agree it would make more sense if there were, but in terms of describing a circumstance is less useful (for example if you said a dog ran by, well, what kind of dog? a wolf? a basset hound? descriptors are useful, and thats all the word species is used for.

This question though is more about why humans tend to be offended by the idea that the differences between us are as great as the differences between animals that most people consider to be separate species of the same genera.

Yet in fantasy or sci-fi we are fine with elves, hobbits, dwarves, giants, etc, which are all just humans that are slightly different.

[Xia1994]

@thespacegnome you said it yourself people are offended because there is no clear way of defining the word species, usually we use that word to group similar creatures into one category sort of like how they say humans are of one species because all fertile humans can procreate with each other even though humanity is comprised of people who look very different from each other in a physical sense. So because that's the widely accepted definition for the word when you use it do distinguish between people who look different then it sounds incorrect because that's not the widely accepted definition for the word.

[Xia1994]

to***

[TheSpaceGnome]

That doesn't answer the "why?" part of it, which was my question.

[Xia1994]

the why is because it seems wrong to people to use the word species to distinguish between their different physical attributes because the widely accepted definition for the word species when it comes to humanity is that every human is collectively of the same species even though we look so different from each other. Things that are perceived as being wrong often upset/offend people or they illicit other negative reactions from people.

[TheSpaceGnome]

Yeah that still doesn't answer the why.
You're basically saying how people respond over and over, whereas I'm asking why they respond that way (as in why they view humans differently than other animals when it comes to classification methods)

[Xia1994]

It could be the fact that humans feel the need to tread a lot more carefully with how they go about classifying their own kind and the sort of terminology they use to do that because unlike animals we have a history of racism. May be that's why most people consider themselves as one species but they use other words to refer to their differences like diversity, racial/ethnic classifications, etc.

[TheSpaceGnome]

I don't think racism is the reason. Whether you label someone by coloration, nationality, sub species (race), or by species, it still amounts to a description, and will still amount to appreciation and hatred forming in those same minds. People also aren't typically racist with fantasy or sci-fi versions of the same thing, despite them clearly being defined as separate human species.

Racism, or rather pointless hate in general, is just a side effect of overgeneralizing too much and having too little exposure to reality.

I don't think it makes any sense to classify humans, cats, and dogs differently than other animals.