Harvard Professor Looking for Neanderthal Surrogate

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If there is enough evidence that the pregnancy would not endanger the woman, and that the child wouldn't spend much of his/her time in cruel lab experiments, then I think it might be worth giving it a shot.

I don't have a definite 'yes' or 'no' on this.
 
I don't think this is a good idea. There's a good chance the kid will be examined and watched all its life, even if it lives a "normal" life with a family in a small town. It will be watched to see how it mentally and physically develops, how it handles technology, how it socializes and is treated by others. While this idea taps into people's imagination of Neandertals living in the present world and what it would be like for them, I don't see how this professor's plans can be ethical.
 
We're finding more and more that Neanderthals were pretty damn smart actually.
I mean, relative to the way they've always been seen. The fact that they were likely killed off by us might fly in the face of that, but who knows?

As for the actual subject...that's one hell of a question. I'll get back to it. Initially, I am against it for several reasons but I'll have to think more on it.
 
I said that as a fact...it's just a theory but personally, I think it has merit.
It very may well have been that Anatomically Modern Humans killed them off.
Makes sense to me, just as a fan of science.

And so that item, if true, is incredibly curious unto itself within this ethical debate. What if we were responsible for their genocide? Do we owe it to them to bring them back?

Are we going to create one and never let it mate? What if it is a male that rapes a woman? Will the authorities allow it to be aborted? All sorts of strangeness here...many fascinating questions.

Also worth noting, as most people make this mistake - Neanderthals gave very little to the human genome. We are somewhat related but very distant, as far as I'm aware.
 
If I'm not mistaken, we share a common ancestor, but there are traces of neanderthal DNA in people of European descent due to some interbreeding..... I'm going to verify that right now
 
What if we were responsible for their genocide?

This is an interesting thought. I feel a great deal of responsibility when our species causes the the extinction of another... but 30,000 years ago, homo sapiens were living what would seem like a more.. ecologically friendly lifestyle. Species cause other species to go extinct all the time. I'm not sure why, but I feel like it's different to clear a rainforest and wipe out a species than it is to out-compete them. But then you run into the question of "when exactly did we start living 'unnatural' lifestyles"... I've always thought that was a silly question, because it divorces us from the so-called natural world in a very arrogant way. I dunno.... late night stream of conscious and what not
 
NOOOOOOOO!

I was worried about that (seemed a little too good to be true), but at least thought it was within the realm of possibility. And it was mentioned in some legit sources
:sad:

I suppose the discussion is still valid as it will happen one day


Thanks for destroying my dream of a real life captain caveman, deep and the Germans :angry:
 
I suppose the discussion is still valid as it will happen one day

It's possible. Just get one mad scientist to do it.

I remember some years ago there was talk about bringing back the woolly mammoth. They found one frozen in Siberia and there were rumors of cloning it or finding some way to bring back the specie.
 
I think Japanese researchers are still working on the wooly mammoth as far as I know
 
But the interesting thing about it is that neanderthal specific DNA is contained in ours after our lines had split. Cavemen getting freaky with other species and such. Hot paleolithic inter-species action
 
I'm so sick of your internet rumors and lies, "Jive Turkey". First "evolution", then "science", now "this".
 
I think that the flying spaghetti monster has a sick sense of humo(u)r.
 
I think Japanese researchers are still working on the wooly mammoth as far as I know

I think researchers shouldn't be concentrating on bringing back extinct animals and instead focus on saving soon-to-be extinct animals.
 
It's a completely different field; it's not like resources are being taken from one to benefit another. There's room for both. And the information they gain from bringing back an extinct animal will extend far beyond just bringing back extinct animals
 
It's a completely different field; it's not like resources are being taken from one to benefit another. There's room for both. And the information they gain from bringing back an extinct animal will extend far beyond just bringing back extinct animals

I would just think saving endangered species would be more important.

Besides, where would the woolly mammoth be put if brought back? Climate change is a problem, so I wouldn't think the Arctic would be a good place if the polar bears are having problems.
 
I would just think saving endangered species would be more important.

Besides, where would the woolly mammoth be put if brought back? Climate change is a problem, so I wouldn't think the Arctic would be a good place if the polar bears are having problems.

Protecting endangered species is definitely important; I'm with you 100% there. I'm just saying if these guys weren't trying to... I don't even know what they call it. Resurrect? the mammoth, they wouldn't be working on saving endangered species anyway. They're geneticists.

I doubt they'd ever consider releasing any of these animals back into the wild though. You're right that the habitats have moved on in the past 10000 years. I assume they're intending to do it on a much smaller scale. Maybe a few dozen animals, if that many, in zoos, etc.


oh, I see now why you made that connection. So ya, bring them back, but not into the wild, so they wouldn't affect any modern species. that would be incredibly irresponsible
 
oh, I see now why you made that connection. So ya, bring them back, but not into the wild, so they wouldn't affect any modern species. that would be incredibly irresponsible

Actually, I didn't mean that at all. :)

I mentioned the polar bears because they are having problems with climate change, and since they are, how would the woolly mammoth survive the Arctic if not all is well there? I mean, will it be cold enough for them or will the fauna be enough for them?

I can see why a geneticist and a biologist would want to study an extinct animal if it fascinates them so much. I just don't see how it would beneficial for the animal or the world altogether.
 
I would just think saving endangered species would be more important.

Besides, where would the woolly mammoth be put if brought back? Climate change is a problem, so I wouldn't think the Arctic would be a good place if the polar bears are having problems.

That's not so much the scientists' call, as rather the call for us to change how we live and how we afford the ways we live. Just take fishing: scientists say, this amount of fish you can fish without depleting the resource, the industry say "We need to fish more" and the governments take a figure somewhere in between.

But that's a little off-topic.

The Spiegel laid down how this all came about. They interview Professor Church, in which he described the process of how to theoretically clone a new neanderthal baby. At the end he said, "And then we would need an adventurous woman as surrogate mother." The day after the magazine was published (in German) the Spiegel Online put a summary of the interview on its website. No one cared. A week later, that article was published in English on the international version of Spiegel Online. That article clearly stated again how the Professor laid out the theoretical path towards a Neanderthal baby. This time, the story was picked up the Daily Mail, that misconstrued the whole thing into the mad scientist looks for Neanderthal surrogate story.

But anyway, no one is actually looking for a woman to do this adventure, but apparently Prof. Church already received some applications.
 
Pearl said:
Actually, I didn't mean that at all. :)

I mentioned the polar bears because they are having problems with climate change, and since they are, how would the woolly mammoth survive the Arctic if not all is well there? I mean, will it be cold enough for them or will the fauna be enough for them?

I can see why a geneticist and a biologist would want to study an extinct animal if it fascinates them so much. I just don't see how it would beneficial for the animal or the world altogether.

The woolly mammoth wouldn't need to survive the arctic because they would never release them there or anywhere. They'd be in limited numbers and confined to habitats in zoos, labs, etc. When they talk of resurrecting species, particularly those so long extinct, the aim is never to get them back into the wild. Even if the climate was suitable, it would cause havoc on the ecosystems.
 
That's not so much the scientists' call, as rather the call for us to change how we live and how we afford the ways we live. Just take fishing: scientists say, this amount of fish you can fish without depleting the resource, the industry say "We need to fish more" and the governments take a figure somewhere in between.

But that's a little off-topic.

The Spiegel laid down how this all came about. They interview Professor Church, in which he described the process of how to theoretically clone a new neanderthal baby. At the end he said, "And then we would need an adventurous woman as surrogate mother." The day after the magazine was published (in German) the Spiegel Online put a summary of the interview on its website. No one cared. A week later, that article was published in English on the international version of Spiegel Online. That article clearly stated again how the Professor laid out the theoretical path towards a Neanderthal baby. This time, the story was picked up the Daily Mail, that misconstrued the whole thing into the mad scientist looks for Neanderthal surrogate story.

But anyway, no one is actually looking for a woman to do this adventure, but apparently Prof. Church already received some applications.


Well if they just wrote the story in English to begin with, we wouldn't be having this problem

:p I keed
 
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