Cloning human ancestors and similar species.

[Synthetix]

I have an interest in anthropology and I've been having ideas that it would really be cool to observe and possibly interact with the clone of a close human relative.

I googled it and found an article titled "Should we clone our Neanderthal ancestors?". Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but Homo Neanderthalensis is not our ancestor, but we share a close common ancestor. I'm not completely up to date on which exact species came before which but I have a fairly good idea. I've heard that Homo Erectus and Homo heidelbergensis are our closest ancestors.

It'd be awesome to see/carefully interact with clones of the following:
H. Neanderthalensis
H. Erectus
H. Floresiensis
H. Heidelbergensis
H. Ergaster
H. Habilis
Australopithecus robustus
Australopithecus afarensis
and even some Ardipithecus species


I know nothing about cloning though. And I'm sure it would be no easy task to do this. I think it would stir up some controversy from certain people if it were attempted or successfully done.

 

[Duxwing]

I have an interest in anthropology and I've been having ideas that it would really be cool to observe and possibly interact with the clone of a close human relative.

I googled it and found an article titled "Should we clone our Neanderthal ancestors?". Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but Homo Neanderthalensis is not our ancestor, but we share a close common ancestor. I'm not completely up to date on which exact species came before which but I have a fairly good idea. I've heard that Homo Erectus and Homo heidelbergensis are our closest ancestors.

It'd be awesome to see/carefully interact with clones of the following:
H. Neanderthalensis
H. Erectus
H. Floresiensis
H. Heidelbergensis
H. Ergaster
H. Habilis
Australopithecus robustus
Australopithecus afarensis
and even some Ardipithecus species


I know nothing about cloning though. And I'm sure it would be no easy task to do this. I think it would stir up some controversy from certain people if it were attempted or successfully done.

We should clone a male and female of the very first hominid species and then walk them into the Vatican crying, "Hark, 'tis Adam and Eve!".

-Duxwing

 

[Nezaros]

I'm actually a little surprised no one has done this yet. I think a surrogate mother of the same species might be necessary, but I have no expertise in this area so I could easily be wrong.

 

[Coolydudey]

A homo erects foetus could definitely grow inside a mother today, we are sufficiently biologically similar.
It's more likely ethical and political issues that are holding it back now, as I can't imagine scientists not having found the DNA of these guys.

Edit: we have DNA of Neanderthals and homo denisova (40k years ago), I'm not sure of what else...

 

[Synthetix]

I recall the half life of DNA being one of the reasons it would be hard to find enough of it to start cloning.

 

[Cognisant]

Interesting project, but expensive.

What would you intend to learn from this?

 

[Nezaros]

It's more likely ethical and political issues that are holding it back now, as I can't imagine scientists not having found the DNA of these guys.

Yeah, I'd believe that. Damn moralists.

Interesting project, but expensive.

What would you intend to learn from this?

 

[Synthetix]

Yes for science, and my fascination of recent-ish human ancestors.


We would have more to learn from doing it than from not doing it. But again, I'm not a cloning expert so I have no idea how hard it would be to do.

 

[Synthetix]

I was told it was illegal in a lot of countries to clone a human. I wonder how they'd react to cloning something like H. Erectus?

 

[Duxwing]

I was told it was illegal in a lot of countries to clone a human. I wonder how they'd react to cloning something like H. Erectus?

"What is the measure of a man?" --William Shakespeare.

-Duxwing

 

[Synthetix]

That's what I was thinking. H. Erectus, H. Heidelbergensis and other species of the genus Homo are still considered by some to be humans. However, legally, most countries might only consider H. Sapiens (Sapiens Sapiens?) to be human, as we're currently the only living species of the genus.

 

[SpaceYeti]

I recall the half life of DNA being one of the reasons it would be hard to find enough of it to start cloning.

... I'm pretty sure the reason DNA works is that it's not radioactive.

 

[SpaceYeti]

"What is the measure of a man?" --William Shakespeare.

-Duxwing

An average of 5 and a half inches.

 

[Duxwing]

An average of 5 and a half inches.

I said "man" not "wee man".

-Duxwing

 

[Nezaros]

... I'm pretty sure the reason DNA works is that it's not radioactive.

It still decays though. I'm not sure of how the process works or how long it takes, but after enough time it decays. Same reason we can't clone dinosaurs.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

Wanted: 'Adventurous woman' to give birth to Neanderthal man - Harvard professor seeks mother for cloned cave baby

I remember reading this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-birth-Neanderthal-man-Harvard-professor.html

 

[TheScornedReflex]

"What is the measure of a man?" --William Shakespeare.

-Duxwing

His penis?

Edit: I have just seen SpaceYeti bet me to the punch.. Bastard!

We could clone our ancestors and put them in museums as a living exhibit.. Maybe a zoo instead .


It would be interesting to see how the cloned would react to the modern world. If they could adapt to it. Hell, we could create a new species of human if we let them evolve. We may have to wait a few thousand years first though. That would be cool.

 

[Synthetix]

The half life if DNA is 521 years, I think. So it would be hard to find enough DNA in the remains of something tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of years old.

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

Well you could learn what they were physically and mentally capable of through testing.

You wouldn't learn much of anything about how they lived.

Just a thought: I wonder if their base instincts would survive the process.

 

[Nezaros]

Somebody should try cloning Jesus.

 

[TheScornedReflex]

Somebody should try cloning Jesus.

Wouldn't he have had to of existed in the first place ?



Now to hide..

 

[Duxwing]

Wouldn't he have had to of existed in the first place ?



Now to hide..

Jesus lived, but he was probably little more than a minor religious figure surrounded by fanatical disciples and a cult of personality who was lucky and smart enough to tell the right people the right things at the right time.

-Duxwing

 

[Synthetix]

Jesus lived

evidence?


I don't mean to derail my thread though.

 

[Duxwing]

evidence?

Before I begin: when I say "lived," I mean "was born and later died" and nothing else. I don't believe that miracles occur. Now, on to my argument.

If Jesus didn't live, then who led the apostles? We know that they lived, and they all wrote about their time in the original cult of thirteen, so I doubt that they invented Jesus from thin air as much as they elevated their cult leader to godhood.

I don't mean to derail my thread though.

-Duxwing

 

[walfin]

This is proof that nothing has changed after Da Blob's banning.

Anyway, my understanding is that most modern humans still have some Neanderthal DNA?

 

[snafupants]

I know nothing about cloning though. And I'm sure it would be no easy task to do this. I think it would stir up some controversy from certain people if it were attempted or successfully done.

Humanity is basically too daft right now. Even stem cell research for Parkinson's caused a stink in the eighties. There's usually blowback from pro-life folk who don't understand science, ethics or what state the fetus is in. Haha, the republicans really couldn't care less about the living. Anyway, there's a fun book on cloning by Michael Crichton called Next. It's totally fucked up but the university basically owns the patent for a sequence one of its researches dredges up. So, if a UCLA dude finds the genetic basis for Alzheimer's...yup, that's UCLA's property haha. They own part of you! It's absurd. You can't own the sky or other parts of nature. You can have a star named after you but that's about it, or should be about it. Edit: That's at least how the patents used to work.

 

[scorpiomover]

Why not clone Velociraptors? I think it would be awesome for someone to clone a pair, and have them breed into billions of Velociraptor packs.

Hello boys. Here comes lunch!