# Human experiment **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 25, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-experiment/171166 "2003-04-25T18:36:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![poissongrand69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/848f3c/32.png) [@poissongrand69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/poissongrand69)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-experiment/171166/1 "2003-04-25T18:36:48Z")
Interesting discussion came up… What would the outcome be if human babies were placed on a deserted island with no outside contact. This is before they are able to learn a language or anything else we teach them as kids. Granted, I dont know how they will survive w/out someone feeding them, caring for them. Hypothetically speaking how will they turn out?? What language skills will they develop, how would they behave… Has there been any documented scenarios in real life??? Cant use “lord of the flies” since they were already growing up and had societial influences… ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-experiment/171166/2 "2003-04-25T18:49:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by poissongrand69 \* > Interesting discussion came up… What would the outcome be if human babies were placed on a deserted island with no outside contact. This is before they are able to learn a language or anything else we teach them as kids. Granted, I dont know how they will survive w/out someone feeding them, caring for them. Hypothetically speaking how will they turn out?? What language skills will they develop, how would they behave… Has there been any documented scenarios in real life??? > \*\* They would die. Babies need constant care until they reach a certain age so your experiement is pretty much impossible. IANASW (IANA Social Worker) but it is my understanding that if you somehow managed to raise a bunch of infants without providing them any other stimulous they would grow up with severe developmental problems. ie they would lack basic communication skill and probably some fine motor skills as well. So basically all you will get is a bunch problems, not a society of super-babies. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-experiment/171166/3 "2003-04-25T19:13:21Z")
Perhaps reading about “feral children” would be useful. There was a brief [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=152078&highlight=feral+child) about it last December, which does contain a link to a Classic Cecil column. ---
**Author:** ![criminalcatalog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@criminalcatalog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/criminalcatalog)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-experiment/171166/4 "2003-04-25T19:24:09Z")
they would probably behave like cave babies, grunting and screaming, beating each other for island mangos and whatnot. ---
**Author:** ![Goodbeem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/958977/32.png) [@Goodbeem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goodbeem)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-experiment/171166/5 "2003-04-25T20:02:11Z")
Although no experiments like this have ever been done, a lot of current work in the evolution of language point to the idea that our currenct language skills are not only the result of constant care and education, but also are the combined result of numerous generations of language users contributing to improve the communication system. So, in short, yes, the’d be grunitng cave babies and it probably will take 'em a few centuries to develop language as we know it ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-experiment/171166/6 "2003-04-25T20:15:42Z")
You will find answers to many of your questions by reading through the sites on the Open Directory’s listing for [Feral Chilrden](http://directory.google.com/Top/Science/Social_Sciences/Psychology/Child_Psychology/Feral_Children/?tc=1). There’s lots of fascinating material there, including whole-chapter excerpts from books.