Cloning Neanderthals

[Deepwater6]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/24/opinion/caplan-neanderthal-baby/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

 

I agree with the author that trying to bring a Neanderthal baby up in our time would be perilous for child if it worked. However I believe the child would be able to pick up on some of our mannerisms and identify things as it aged. Surely nowhere near a normal human, but for their time they were fairly progressive.

 

On the issue of cloning animals such as the Mastodon the author brings to light some very good points. Even so I'm not so much in the anti-cloning camp as I am with the Neanderthal.

 

Despite all the obstacles much could be learned long extinct creatures from our past. I also appreciate the public angst over this question. I wanted to open a thread to discuss if any cloning should move forward and why or why not.

[Buffy]

I believe you are being a bit speciesist: Neanderthals seem to have had a larger cranial capacity that H. Sapiens Sapiens, and it's been proven that they had the foxp2 gene for language.

 

I still would call this irresponsible experimentation, if--as seems to be the case here--the point is to "simply see if we can do it" without considering any of the consequences.

 

It would be interesting to see what happens, but it definitely opens up some ethical cans of worms. I've been watching ST:Deep Space Nine recently, and the character Odo, has a somewhat similar back story that any "neanderkid" would have (albeit he was not "created", just that he's treated as a "scientific specimen" even though he's sentient).

 

Ancient astronauts didn't build the pyramids. Human beings built the pyramids, because they're clever and they work hard, :phones:

Buffy

[ErlyRisa]

It wouldn't be the same --> you wouldn't be able to tell the difference (Did it grow in a Human womb?)

 

ie. It's a Chicken Egg problem

 

--Pointless experiment.

[Gregb]

This is a very poor article from CNN. We won't allow human cloning, why would we allow Neanderthal?

[Moontanman]

Neanderthals were humans, dress one in a business suit and he would just look like a rather powerfully built man walking down the street. I've known at least a couple people who looked so much like the classic neanderthal it wasn't funny. Even their facial features looked right. I'm not sure it would be as hard on the neanderthal as people might think, but to only make one is problematic, if you are going to do it you should try to create at least a small population of them...  I see no reason to think they couldn't integrate into society... 

[Moontanman]

This is a very poor article from CNN. We won't allow human cloning, why would we allow Neanderthal?

 

 

Who says we won't allow human cloning? 

[Gregb]

Who says we won't allow human cloning? 

When I say "we" I mean the western world.

 

"The vast majority of scientists and lawmakers view human reproductive cloning—cloning for the purpose of making a human baby—immoral"

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cloning/whyclone/

[Abe40]

From the posts here, we all seem to forget one essential attribute of science research and new ideas; they seem crazy at first because of their departure from known and accepted knowledge. A few centuries ago, we thought the earth was flat Gallelio proved us wrong. Later science claimed that the atom was the smallest indivisible component of an element, do we still believe that today? Cloning started with sheep; there is no reason why we will not soon change our ethical views on cloning of primates: cloning to gin up a Neanderthal baby will soon happen. 

[ErlyRisa]

Whats scary: its so easy to do you ca actually do it yourself.... its ceaper to buy ivf equipment than it is to get treated, makes you wonder?

[Mark007]

This is quite an article to say the least. It sounds like the plot of a B Hollywood movie. I doubt this would ever come to be, but who knows what is going on in some hidden government funded laboratory?

[PiSquare]

From the posts here, we all seem to forget one essential attribute of science research and new ideas; they seem crazy at first because of their departure from known and accepted knowledge. A few centuries ago, we thought the earth was flat Gallelio proved us wrong. Later science claimed that the atom was the smallest indivisible component of an element, do we still believe that today? Cloning started with sheep; there is no reason why we will not soon change our ethical views on cloning of primates: cloning to gin up a Neanderthal baby will soon happen. 

 

Well said, Abe! Whether we (the general public) like it or not, and whether we approve of it or not, cloning is in any event happening in laboratories all over the world. 

[arissa]

This is a very poor article from CNN. We won't allow human cloning, why would we allow Neanderthal?

 

You know that someone, somewhere wants to do this and more than likely someone will do it. Just because you need consent does not mean everyone is going to follow the rules when it comes to stuff like this.

[Elisa]

Neanderthals were humans, dress one in a business suit and he would just look like a rather powerfully built man walking down the street. I've known at least a couple people who looked so much like the classic neanderthal it wasn't funny. Even their facial features looked right. I'm not sure it would be as hard on the neanderthal as people might think, but to only make one is problematic, if you are going to do it you should try to create at least a small population of them...  I see no reason to think they couldn't integrate into society... 

 

I think so too Moontanman, I'm sure we still see the effects of the Neanderthals in our current culture, I've seen them too! :) But I agree that this brings with it a huge amount of ethical issues. At one point there will be human cloning and whatever gets cloned is sure to be controversial for one reason or another. I think it's inevitable. 

[Arbor]

Their ways were prehistoric because that is the era they were born into. A neanderthal baby would be raised by human parents and would develop like a human child.

[Eclogite]

 A few centuries ago, we thought the earth was flat Gallelio proved us wrong. 

I realise this is off topic, but I think - on a science forum - common misunderstandings should be corrected. In Galileo's time the roundness of the Earth was well known. What Galileo did was contribute to was acceptance of the heliocentric planetary system and the notion that the heavens can and do change.