[Jo Nuvark]

[...Chimpanzees seem almost human, and scientists have
maintained for decades that chimps are, in fact, 98.5
percent genetically identical to humans...]

Many items in nature are chemically similar to one another,
but that doesn't make them similar in appearance or
effect. It's not the molecules that a substance is made of
that defines it, but rather how those molecules are arranged.

[Ichneumon]

[...Chimpanzees seem almost human, and scientists have maintained for decades that chimps are, in fact, 98.5 percent genetically identical to humans...]

Many items in nature are chemically similar to one another, but that doesn't make them similar in appearance or effect.

Genome similarity goes far beyond "chemically similar"...

It's not the molecules that a substance is made of that defines it, but rather how those molecules are arranged.

...and the above statement is *about* how "those molecules are arranged" in the genome (and the resulting phenotype).