Cloning Neanderthals

[Doctor Crankenstein]

Yes, We Should Clone Neanderthals | Science Not Fiction | Discover Magazine

I'm really interested in hearing what you guys think about this.

One of my first thoughts was someone, somewhere making inferior Neanderthal humans as a commercial product to be used as slaves...

 

[Moonbat]

I have read a wonderful short story called 'the N Word' about Neaderthals that were cloned and now live in society, they are just as clever (if not more so) than homosapiens and are slightly stronger but they face prejudice.

 

[Doctor Crankenstein]

That sounds very interesting. Can you recall where you read it?

(If they are just as clever this would suggest that the Neanderthals were cloned a while ago and have since evolved cognitively, or where engineered with increased cognitive capacity?)

 

[mosaix]

Supposing the tiger became extinct, would we have any qualms about cloning it back into existence?

I know the two don't seem the same but, for the life of me, I can't see any difference.

 

[Moonbat]

I read it in 'The mammoth book of best new SF 22'
It was called N-words by Ted Kosmatka.

 

[Vertigo]

If they are just as clever this would suggest that the Neanderthals were cloned a while ago and have since evolved cognitively, or where engineered with increased cognitive capacity?

Not sure that is valid:

"Neanderthal cranial capacity is thought to have been as large as that of Homo sapiens, perhaps larger, indicating that their brain size may have been comparable as well. In 2008, a group of scientists created a study using three-dimensional computer-assisted reconstructions of Neanderthal infants based on fossils found in Russia and Syria, showing that they had brains as large as modern humans' at birth and larger than modern humans' as adults"

The suggestion is that their intelligence would have been our equal - the only difference really is culture and education. In the same way a Cro-Magnon man brought up and educated in the modern world would almost certainly be able to perform on a par with modern humans.

As to whether we should clone them - it is a difficult one. Even if they did have equal, or even superior, intelligence. They would almost certainly be forced into a minority oppressed society and be exploited in the worst possible ways. That unfortunately does seem to be our nature.