An article from the NY Times talks about the potential to regenerate the wooly mammoth with DNA from museum pieces and some pretty hopped-up sequencing machines and techniques. It also makes brief mention of the possibility of bringing back Neanderthal.
First, I'd like a KP reality check here. Some of us are in a better position to answer the question as to whether this is even remotely possible. Please do.
Second, I am not sure how I feel about the Neanderthal idea. On the one hand, it'd be pretty cool just to be able to do it. The issue then becomes ethical/moral. Would Neanderthals be considered people? What rights would they have? I know this sounds terrible but.. could we...ahem... make use of them? If they are considered people, I guess that knocks out some of the potential...er...uses, but if they are not people, just think about it. Maybe a little scary.
Anyway, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Can it be done? If so, should it? Discuss.
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2 comments:
Good article, thanks for the post. I think the reality of achieving such a feat is decades off, but likely will be possible in the future. Ethically, I think it's pretty clear that bringing back the Neanderthal is a bad idea, but it has made for some entertaining, yet crappy movies.
So...can we have sex with them at our whim, or what?
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