Slashdot Mirror
Should We Clone a Neanderthal?
SpaceAdmiral writes "Forget cloning a woolly mammoth — should scientists clone a Neanderthal? Such a feat should be possible soon, although it raises a number of bioethics concerns, including where to draw the line between humans and other animals."
I'm not the most religious of people either, and as such I do not lend credence to storybooks trying to convince me that their imagination invisible friend up in the sky is watch me pee. If we were to take a homo sapient from the same era and clone her, place her in modern society as a child and not inform anyone, we would be unable to determine the difference because of her parallel genetic makeup: to do the same with a Neanderthal would be unethical because they are not "human", and are easily identifiable as such; in consequence we MUST raise them separately, and it would be unethical to do it "normally".
Keep in mind, this neanderthal won't be delivered by a stork. Creating one requires starting with something that would have been born as a modern human baby and modifying it so that it is, quite definitely, not.
Genetically modifying a human germ line because "it would be neat" is totally unethical. There is no scientific question important enough to justify this sort of massive genetic mutation of a human embryo. Case closed.
He became President Bush and look what happened!
Probably because we do not have the right to clone someone?
The electoral success of the Republican party in the US and the Conservatives in the UK show that it is better to be mean than smart.
So by that logic, would the victory of Obama, and the Democratic Party generally, in the recent US election show that it's better to be mean AND a smart liar?
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Pissing off religious nutters would in itself be a reason to re-create Neanderthals.
Booo. Go hide under your KKK robes coward.
FOX NEWS.com should be BANNED from television and internet. Have the Congress take it over and give us Truespeak.
Seriously! And to think, we almost got stuck with his wife in that roll this time around!
All the relevant scientists have to do is promise a cure for cancer or AIDS and at least the Congress of the United States will fall all over itself to shovel billions into the project. Amoral science is rapidly becoming out-of-control immoral science. They want to do any freak thing they can think up -- and they demand the public pay for it. I'm growing sick of the science news. I'm growing sick of them all. I would like to see some scientists stand up and say there are hard limits somewhere. Remember Nazi "scientists" studied the effects of cold and war wounds on concentration camp victims.
E Proelio Veritas.
Here is some non fox-news data for you. White powder envelopes. Old couple attacked. Here's some proof on the burning churches threat. Sorry you're not hearing this from Olbermann or Maddow, but those are the facts.