Some apes are already able to communicate using language - not spoken, but e.g. using a buttons console with symbols on it. They've also been taught sign langua

Some apes are already able to communicate using language - not spoken, but e.g. using a buttons console with symbols on it. They've also been taught sign language. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_ape_language#Apes_that_demonstrate_understanding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_ape_language#Apes_that_d... None of the apes learned "grammar", but they did communicate using language. Did that make a difference to the rights of apes? Of course not. Whatever you get an ape to achieve, will be immediately defined as not quite sufficient to prove that they are human-like enough to have any rights. The only way to solve this argument is not to give them language but to realise that it is our responsibility to better treat other denizens of this world we share - irrespective of whether they meet some arbitrary criteria of human-ness. There's a very simple self-interested reason for this too: if we ever encounter aliens, we currently would not have any viable argument to convince them that they should treat us any better than we treat apes.