Planet of the Apes

So I have just seen Rise of the Planet of the Apes in theaters, and enjoyed it immensely.  Before I get into the details, I'll let it be known that I have only seen the remake of Planet of the Apes in its entirety.  While I'm sure the originals movie series is excellent in its own way, I fully admit to preferring modern-day graphics and acting to earlier works most of the time.  With all that in mind, and the
*Spoiler Warning*
to ward off people who want surprises from the movie, let me present my thoughts.

The biggest process to causing the Planet of the Apes is that the 'make you smarter' chemical is really a virus, and apparently communicable through at least blood in humans.  Secondly, it is eventually fatal in humans.  However, the same virus makes Apes smarter by leaps and bounds.  The end of the movie suggests that the virus goes international quickly via plane flight.  This would likely cause any place with Apes and humans in close proximity to have the humans die and the apes grow smarter over time, suggesting a strong initial growth in areas with native ape populations and large captivity areas.

To establish the true form of Planet of the Apes, humanity would need to develop an immunity to the disease in some form, and the apes would need to keep Caesar's  tolerance of humanity vs. the hatred of humanity displayed by the 'evil' chimp (who lacked a name as far as I could tell, but the one that writes Jacobs).  I could easily see a sequel explore the idea of the apes saving humanity by taking them in as pets, and a showdown between Caesar and 'Jacobs'.

For the longer reaching philosophical and sociological impacts, the introduction of another intelligent specie is always huge news, sadly downplayed during when it would be best (the testing phases), and then irrelevant in a practical way with a virus running amok threatening to wipe out the human race.  The known aggression apes can show can be scary to people, but is it any worse than what humanity already does?  Would they be less violent if more aware of their long term actions, or revel in it?  Dolphins have been shown to enjoy violence against natural enemies like sharks, long after their foe is dead.  Dolphins enjoy casual sex, but will also perform it on the unwilling when they want it.  These known factors in the real world should make people wonder about what intelligence does for morality, and should make people think about what really 'separates us from the animals'.