Comments on: Cloning Neanderthals could answer questions of human evolution

By: BigMac

BigMac — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:09:00 +0000

Animal Farm, literally.

By: Donald Rose

Donald Rose — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:17:00 +0000

They should make software based on actual scientific information that makes logical predictions on the results of inter-species genetic combinations of dissimilar animals. Like combining an elephant and an octopus. Or wolves and man, or an eagle and a lion. Maybe a dolphin and a monkey. Flipper in a tree.

By: Donald Rose

Donald Rose — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:05:00 +0000

You cannot give human rights to a lab animal. Either the Neanderthal is fully human and free to make it’s own way, or you condemn it to unsympathetic monster doctors. Who in turn will find an excuse to make thousands of them and a slave community. The problem is the psychology of the persons suggesting the action. The underlying actual motive is something far worse than anything a Nazi movement would do.
Worse yet is the next phase where animal human barrier is broken, and politicians actually are related to elephants and donkeys in the future. If not presently.

By: BigMac

BigMac — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:06:00 +0000

The ability to speak is not even a question, it’s a given. What can not be learned from cloning is: did they have a language. You could test to see if the ability to learn a language is present. You could test their intelligence. But what they knew about the world around them and how they interacted can never be learned from a clone.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:49:00 +0000

David is mostly right, but he’s wrong about finding out if they could speak or not. Either they’re capable or they’re not.

By: BigMac

BigMac — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 22:34:00 +0000

Good one David. Now try explaining nature vs nurture to the author.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:50:00 +0000

I propose a liberal cloning tax to achieve this. The more liberal that a clone is the more that its cloner must pay yearly.

By: David the small-L libertarian

David the small-L libertarian — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:44:00 +0000

The advantages of learning our ancestral past far outweigh the disadvantages. We could learn how humans behaved long ago, if they could speak, create languages and use tools. We could validate the evidence we gathered that indicates they buried their dead, wore clothes and interbred with us. But most importantly, we could gather more information about the branching tree of life, and our place in it.

This would not work. The clonees would have to be completely isolated from the rest of humanity otherwise they’d be affected by modern man and the experiment would fail. I would, however, be in favor of cloning libertarians or conservative Republicans.