Cloning a Neanderthal
I’ve long complained that modern science only asks “can we do this?” and fails to ask “should we do this?”. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. This debate again pops up as scientists get ever closer to cloning a mammoth and as a result, closer to cloning and bringing back primitive human life.
The full genome of the Neanderthal, an ancient human species probably driven to extinction by the first modern humans that entered Europe some 45,000 years ago, is expected to be recovered shortly. If the mammoth can be resurrected, the same would be technically possible for Neanderthals.
While it may result in a marketing boon for Geico, it brings up tremendous ethical issues. Cloning a mammoth will bring about moral and ethical questions of bringing back an extinct animal. However, once this creature has been created, treatment of this creature would be no more of an issue than a zoo animal subjected to study and research. Creating a Neanderthal would be an entirely different matter. In this case, we are dealing with (as far as we know) and intelligent being. This cloned “person” would be a one of a kind. They would be devoid of the culture, language, and company of their own kind and thrust into a world that is not theirs. Would they have human rights? They are not human, so they would fall into a legal gray area. However, they are intelligent, shouldn’t they have a choice in what happens to them? Would they be treated as a zoo animal and be a ward of their scientist creators? The questions are numerous.
What kind of science would come of this? The article states “No one knows if Neanderthals could speak”. I say, so what? Even if you could clone one and test its vocal abilities, the Neanderthal language is dead and long gone. This clone would tell us nothing about the Neanderthal way of life. This experiment would be nothing more than a “look what we can do” stunt. The science that would come of studying a live specimen would be minuscule to the ethical conundrum that it would cause.
Will this happen? I’m almost sure it will. I can not recall a time where scientists have made a major discovery and restrained themselves from proceeding forward. If it can be done, they will do it without hesitation.
