From Archaeology:
Should We Clone Neanderthals?
by Zach Zorich
If Neanderthals ever walk the earth again, the primordial ooze from which they will rise is an emulsion of oil, water, and DNA capture beads engineered in the laboratory of 454 Life Sciences in Branford, Connecticut. Over the past 4 years those beads have been gathering tiny fragments of DNA from samples of dissolved organic materials, including pieces of Neanderthal bone. Genetic sequences have given paleoanthropologists a new line of evidence for testing ideas about the biology of our closest extinct relative.
The first studies of Neanderthal DNA focused on the genetic sequences of mitochondria, the microscopic organelles that convert food to energy within cells. In 2005, however, 454 began a collaborative project with the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, to sequence the full genetic code of a Neanderthal woman who died in Croatia's Vindija cave 30,000 years ago. As the Neanderthal genome is painstakingly sequenced, the archaeologists and biologists who study it will be faced with an opportunity that seemed like science fiction just 10 years ago. They will be able to look at the genetic blueprint of humankind's nearest relative and understand its biology as intimately as our own.
In addition to giving scientists the ability to answer questions about Neanderthals' relationship to our own species--did we interbreed, are we separate species, who was smarter--the Neanderthal genome may be useful in researching medical treatments. Newly developed techniques could make cloning Neanderthal cells or body parts a reality within a few years. The ability to use the genes of extinct hominids is going to force the field of paleoanthropology into some unfamiliar ethical territory. There are still technical obstacles, but soon it could be possible to use that long-extinct genome to safely create a healthy, living Neanderthal clone. Should it be done?
Read More @ the Archaeological Institute of America
[ Also check Daniel Rourke's excellent companion piece:
Raising Neanderthals: Metaphysics at the Limits of Science ]
Raising Neanderthals: Metaphysics at the Limits of Science ]
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10 comments:
lame. Neanderthal's wont develop within the same matrix they lived in thousands of years ago so why bother? so they can measure lame 'anthropocentric' questions?
imagine the new developments of speceist nonsense that will emerge. and will they be forced to live like humans or put into "parks" to re-develop their "primal skills".
seems like a huge turd to me just to masturbate sciences own capitalist dick.
I can understand that view.
However, I don't think they would be forced to do anything in particular (such as live in zoos), because they would have to be given "rights" from the get go, but they would certainly be studied to no end.
So do you think science and capital could ever be teased apart? Even in terms of micro-practice?
yeah, but based on what we supposedly know in theory... how do they communicate, whats their "verbal skill" potentials, etc... would they even re-develop those skills? how would they adapt to "our" practice of language? and if thats the case, are you really even studying a "Neanderthal"? do they simulate the same diet? to think theyd be studying "pristine biological" Neanderthals is about as bad as saying studying a hunter-gatherer is a true window to the past. youd be studying a hybrid regardless of "biological" implications since theyd be learning, observing and emulating everything they know from humans. it seems like a joke to me. some dream of Science that theyre going to clone these people and then hope they start play-acting their "evolutionary past thats embedded in their genome". what a joke.
and why would we develop them just to force them to live within capital? could they? and if they cant, where do they reside? and if not, what sort of autonomy will they be given? rights are a great abstraction, they really never workout. we cant even give people autonomy now who want to live "outside" or on the margins of capital or "civilization".
@Savagist
All great points. I would really worry about their treatment and ability to cope as well.
I think researchers understand that they wouldn't be able to recreate a "pure" Neanderthal, but even in that there would be a lot to learn about epigenetics and the supposed genetic influences on behavior.
My opinion is that they would do just fine, in the long run - because they would be able to communicate, and probably learn our language, and thus adapt to our (maladaptive) social institutions much in the way we supposedly do.
And since they would be required to develop from the 'bottom-up', so to speak, just like we do, their 'natural' matrix would in fact be the same "civilization" that we suffer now.
I'm not sure we could ever get past the important ethical concerns you raise, so maybe such a project would not be something I would support in the end, but speculating on it makes for an interesting study of all our values.
The subject has come up over the past few weeks as a yahoo newsreel hinted at cloning prehistoric animals. I've either been working too much, am an idiot or just horribly pessimistic, but I'll ask the same here that I asked of coworkers on the subject of Mammoths:
Juassic Park anyone?
but since the subject is hominid...
They can always get a gig as Geico spokespersons.
nope...... overly tired.
apologies.
@Sherry
lol. employment might indeed be an issue.
I'm worried about how we would prevent them from dying of all of germs... They would be susceptible to so many germs we are now resistant to...
Pandora's box?
and what would they bring back from the past for us? I can't imagine, given how fast germs mutate, we'd be immune to everything they had back then.
good point Sherry.
I'm kinda leaning towards the "don't do that for the love of everything secular" camp now that i've thought more about it a bit more...
It is a fantastic idea to clone a Neandertal. They wouldn't be able to tell us what happened in the past as they would be "born" in today's world, but it would be fantastic to see their physical and mental attributes and their reasoning powers. Since their brains were around 1/4th larger than ours would they become "Einsteins" with the proper educational training jumping humankind into a future never expected? I say go for it!
@Anon
It is possible i guess.
I'm just worried about what our new germs would do to them. Like aboriginals in North America when the plundering Euro-hordes arrived here, perhaps they would die of diseases they had never been exposed to in their time. A common cold might kill them.
It certainly would be fascinating to see what they would be like though.
Thanks for stopping in.
M.
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