Pretty disgusting behavior by humans. I’d consider anyone who gave their dog or child over for medical research to be a complete sociopath.
And no, I don’t think it should be done, or that it is moral or ethical. If it were done, I’m sure we could look forward to a repeat of that Dr. Zaius fiasco.
Only if he didn’t tell me he was a hybrid before the first date. I think the surprise would bother me.
If the OP is not asking about the ethics of the thing, I’m not sure what is being asked. How could this change someone’s “world view” anymore than the existence of a mule? What is a world view, anyway?
No, wouldn’t effect my “worldview”. Organ donor source???
As far as I’m aware, hybrids such as ligers/tigons thus far have only occurred in captivity. Which suggests to me that while it is clearly possible, it’s not easy to accomplish without some extraordinary circumstances. Maybe it’s just geography, but there’s not exactly a glut of hybrids running around in captivity, either.
This is the main point of my objection, too… the most likely result is you have an individual who is going to be roundly rejected by both human and chimpanzee societies. The only life they’ll lead will most likely be marked by isolation. “Protective custody” maybe, but functionally a prison. Humans and chimps are smart and social, and I can’t think of a reason why a hybrid would be any different; so this individual would be miserable and lonely, even if some sort of arrangements were made to protect him/her from outright violence. And smart enough to be aware that s/he is “different” and doesn’t have the same freedom of movement that everyone else does. (Likely even aware enough to know that s/he is “ugly” when measured by the prevailing standard of beauty, and that will take its toll, too.)
We already have evidence that hybridization between closely related Hominid species is possible, so I have no idea what scientific knowledge would be gained by doing this. Not enough to justify the emotional torment of a sentient being. It seems like most people look at this like the result will be “an animal” (like it’s a meaningful distinction to begin with), while forgetting that the individual will be just as much a human. Would you subject a little kid to that sort of rejection, isolation, or bullying, if you could help it?
Hybrid human-chimp working in the carwash? Alright. Restaurant server? Not so much.
I would be bothered if it was intelligent enough to, say, comprehend human speech but didn’t have the ability to talk. Due to vocal cord anatomy or tongue/teeth shape, or whatever. Sure it could maybe write things down or learn sign language, but it seems unfair to saddle an intelligent being with an intentional handicap merely to push the bounds of medical science (or due to curiosity). It’d be like *planning *to give birth to an intelligent human being who’s only unable to speak due to a physical disability like, oh, cerebral palsy. It’s cruel if done on purpose. And I just don’t think it’s worth the hypothetical gain to play around with interspecies breeding that’s so closely-related to us.
::Wild eyed panic:: Why? Is the chimp pregnant??? Oh, geez, I KNEW this was a bad idea! Stupid Jack Daniels and mood lighting…
Ditto. What would we do with it/him/her? How would we treat it? How intelligent would it be? I don’t see a good outcome if it is intelligent and shares the human want for self-determination. If we deny it, then we’ve created a being to enslave it. If we allow it, we leave it open for abuse and probable death in the world (humans haven’t figured out how to treat people decently based on different skin melanin yet). I don’t think the scientific benefits would be worth that gamble, quite frankly.
In order to get past that, let’s assume that it’s done by scientists in China or Iran or Venezuela. That is, countries not allied with us and over whom we have little control. So you needn’t worry about even passive participation in the process. All you know is that it has happened, and that there is nothing you can do about it.
In that case I would be extremely bothered; I can well imagine a totalitarian regime knowing that the process is possible creating a new slave caste of them - if they were intelligent enough to follow instruction, enough like us to use our tools and infrastructure but different enough from us to make brutalising them to keep them in their place easy. No need to dehumanise something that isn’t fully human to begin with. They could even create an army of them without regards to the norms of war like concern for casualties.
I would go so far as to advocate military action against such a regime lest we through inaction become accomplices to this. Are they able to breed, with each other, 100% humans or 100% chimpanzees?