Should We Clone Neanderthals?

[Anthropos]

No. The results are unpredictable, and like others have pointed out, what good could it possibly do? It is not a good argument that it will answer 'questions' that we do not need to raise in the first place.

[Allenson]

Tough question to answer but I'd surely be paying close attention to the affair if it were done.

One of my favorite Neanderthal reconstructions:

[Kadu]

Et cetera et cetera, possibilities are countless, the scientific value of that event would be of unimaginable proportions. Yes, yes and yes.

Yes, but you cannot create Human life for the sole purpose of scientific investigation. An individual may take part in a scientific investigation and serve as an object of study but creating it to become the object of such and solely that a priori interferes with the very essence of the meaning of life, and that is beyond us, to interfer, with such matters as we are talking about another pair, another Man, equal to us.

[Loki]

But if so, why not cloning Rick Astley too?

Because he looks gay.

[antonio]

Cloning at least several individuals would give us answers to countless questions, potentially leading to breakthroughs in various areas of science. How intelligent were they? What kind of speech were they capable of? Did they possess some abilities that we are not aware of? Was the hybridization (Sapiens+Neanderthal) possible? Are their behavioral and cognitive patterns same, or different from ours? How do two different intelligent species perceive each other, what are possible ways of interaction (Neanderthals are our close relatives, of course, but still the experience is of value, given the possibility/perspective of contacts with other intelligent species in the Galaxy). Et cetera et cetera, possibilities are countless, the scientific value of that event would be of unimaginable proportions. Yes, yes and yes.

You know that every animal has a strange unnatural behaviour when keeped at captivity: for example, they refrain themselves from copule and hence reproduction. These would be humans, but I'm afraid of similar patterns: imagine a Cromagnoid like us being raised up by aliens: where's his original culture from his Cromagnoid parents and Sociohistorical context?
Neanderthal as speech capable people, why not? But this question would be equally answered by DNA comparison. And nothing would be elicited from their speeches: cause they're though our XXI century idioms.

My conclusion is that Neanderthalensis would be a rough featured people

with mental capabilities varying as function of culture from adoptive families. So what?

[Kadu]

imagine a Cromagnoid like us being

Sorry for being picky but i would just like to underline that Modern Europeans and Cro-Magnoids are not same thing

Populations of anatomically archaic (Neandertal) and early modern (Cro-Magnoid) humans are jointly documented in the European fossil record, in the period between 40 000 and 25 000 years BP, but the large differences between their cultures, morphologies and DNAs suggest that the two groups were not close relatives. However, it is still unclear whether any genealogical continuity between them can be ruled out. Here, we simulated a broad range of demographic scenarios by means of a serial coalescence algorithm in which Neandertals, Cro-Magnoids and modern Europeans were either part of the same mitochondrial genealogy or of two separate genealogies. Mutation rates, population sizes, population structure and demographic growth rates varied across simulations. All models in which anatomically modern (that is, Cro-Magnoid and current) Europeans belong to a distinct genealogy performed better than any model in which the three groups were assigned to the same mitochondrial genealogy. The maximum admissible level of gene flow between Neandertals and the ancestors of current Europeans is 0.001% per generation, one order of magnitude lower than estimated in previous studies not considering genetic data on Cro-Magnoid people.

Comparing models on the genealogical relationships among Neandertal, Cro-Magnoid and modern Europeans by serial coalescent simulations

[Liffrea]

Hmmm what's Osweo then?

[Kadu]

Hmmm what's Osweo then?

Ask J. K. Rowling, she created him.

[Wulfhere]

What could cloning a Neanderthal possibly tell us about their culture, their beliefs or their language (other than what sounds it might have contained)? The individual(s) in question - fully human but not one of us - would be in an invidious position in our society. I think they're too like us, and yet not us, for it to be ethical. They represent our lost sibling, whom we will never know.

[Liffrea]

Personally I say no.