It’s hard to let go of the idea that we’re just so special and that we’re somehow apart from every other creature on the earth. Is the Neanderthal brain just like ours? Probably not. Is it so different that we can’t relate to each other? Probably not.
Well I’m not a biologist but I’ve watched PBS shows that discuss how specialized the brain is in humans and other animals particularly in respect to verbal and cognitive skills. You don’t see any other primates exhibiting the spoken word yet they can use sign language. Dogs and cats have been bread over centuries to interact with humans. It’s not as simple as taking an animal from birth and raising them. It doesn’t work that way. You can’t domesticate other animals through the force of will.
Well yes, that’s what you are setting up this person for, creating him/her for. Maybe not explicitly but that is very likely what his life would be like. You think that “relating to each other” is enough? Or do you believe that all someone needs to be happy is hookers and sandwiches with maybe cable tossed in? In possession of a brain larger than ours and a cognitive skill set – that are both completely out of step for function in a society that (s)he had neither evolved for nor created as a species.
Yes you are wanting to create someone to be the freak for your entertainment and willing to bet not your well being, but his or hers that somehow despite whatever differences exist, that you by necessity are completely ignorant of, you will find a way to prevent his/her misery at that circumstance.
It’s going to happen- so what’s the most ethical way to do it, and what’s the most ethical way to treat the new person?
No, I believe that social mammals need social interactions and that we’ve seen hundreds of examples where, when done correctly, the individual can be quit happy (if that’s the right term). My motivation is scientific, but I’m not lacking in a sense of humor.
I get the humor. Enjoyed it.
But I think the Neandertal would most likely be that little bit extra sentient, and so while we can scam bonobos into thinking they have the good life at the San Diego Zoo, it’s tougher w/ a human. Which is what this would be.
Scientist probably would try to keep him under wraps for their personal pet, but gawkers like me would demand a ticket too. “Hey; that’s my tax dollars at work! I get to have a looksee too!” And of course, no end of fruitcakes lobbying for his release into the wild. It wouldn’t be some dumbass bigfoot lurking in the shawdow. It would be a fully sentient creature with self awareness, capable of figuring out that he is caged.
So don’t cage him. Raise him in secret. Release data and pictures, but not his identity or location. Sure, every hick is going to think their weird-looking neighbor kid is the Neanderthal in the news, but he’ll have a life of his own.
You do understand that you are creating a slave, right?
A slave is essentially a human pet–historically mostly a working pet, of course (but sometimes just someone to hang with the free peoples’ kids). I recognize you intend to be a good master. But this individual is a slave, pure and simple, with an easy set of duties: hang around while I study you, or just enjoy your companionship (or whatever your motivation is for creating the Neandertal).
If enslavement is in your ethical paradigm, forge ahead. If it’s not, you should not create a human slave simply to satisfy your curiosity. We euthanize animals that are too wretched; this poor guy gets a lifetime sentence of slavery, and the best outcome we can hope for is to make him a satisfied and happy slave. And if we can’t, there’s no alternative to euthanize him–at least, not for most of us.
It doesn’t have to be. Get a volunteer mother (or a group of mothers). This parent is now legally the new child’s parent. The mother agrees to allow occasional non-intrusive (and non-painful) observation of the new child. And that’s it. The mother raises the child normally, and if the child requires special needs, then those needs are met, just like any special-needs child. Until the child is an adult, his/her parents make decisions for him/her, just like any other child. When the Neanderthal is an adult, he/she makes decisions for him/herself, just like any other adult.
Not only is this the best way, I think, to do this, I think it’s probably the *only *way, legally and ethically.
Yes. This is almost certainly how the program would be run. The Doubting Thomases are imagining the 1920s King Kong version.
Perhaps Mighty Joe Young.
Put the guy to work driving a cab in Brooklyn and no one will be the wiser.
Neanderthal brains do not have Broca’s Area, associated with speech, but anthropologist have recently changed their minds and say Neanderthal had a spoken language. How did that come to pass?
It may be that Neantherthal’s developed a different brain structure to do the same work Brocca’s does for us.
The ability to speak leaves traces on the skeleton is how I understand it. The attachment points of muscles on bone and some other things show a certain amount of flexibility and fine control that would allow for spoken language. They may not have been able to use some of the sounds we do (and vice versa) but I gather the evidence is that they were at least somewhat verbal.
?? I’ve not seen that Neanderthal brain cast show a lack of Broca’s area.
Link. Warning: PDF; and I can’t cut and paste from it.
I believe that Broca’s area has been found on much more primitive Hominins than Neanderthals.
Yes. This is almost certainly how the program would be run. The Doubting Thomases are imagining the 1920s King Kong version.
You can say that again.
Plus, I get the idea that some folks here get their info about Neanderthals from the 1920s.
Your mother or group of mothers (interesting that fathers are dealt out) … who will they have for a social peer group for their child who at 3 years old is bigger than most 5 year olds? Do they know how to teach and socialize someone who learns and develops in a tempo different than anything they’ve seen before, gifted in some ways perhaps. Or does the child not need peers? Not need friends?
We’ve evolved even since they went extinct. Have we had brain adaptations to allow us to live in this sort of population density? Does he or she have them if such exist?
To do this is unethical. To do it with the least harm requires having a peer group arranged for that would be able to play safely with him or her without overwhelming him or her at each level of development. It requires an expert team wo are able to identify what his or her unexpected strengths and weaknesses might turn out to be and to allow maximizing his or her potential – not handling him/her like a developmentally delayed special needs child or as someone with autism. It requires giving opportunity to learn from word go both sign and spoken language and with full support.
And then having the strength of spirit to live responded to as a freak by most of the society he/she would be thrust in.
You are naive, I think. It will all just magically work out for the best because we’ll socialize him/her as a modern human, no matter how much his/her cognition and developmental progression is unlike anything we have the ability to understand.
Yes, and when the super-strong Neanderthal kid snaps the neighbor kid’s arm like a twig, you get your socks sued off for negligence.
At age 3, I was bigger than most 5 year olds.
A high-protein bread, no less.
You the guy with the frownish forehead?
You drive a cab in Brooklyn?