If we cloned Neanderthals, what rights would they have?
reason.com
reason.com
The idea is that the extra gray matter in a cloned Neanderthal's head would have him instinctively finding good stones to shape into tools in a specific way, even if nobody ever showed him how to do that.
There is always the possibility that there were changes in the environment that they couldn't cope with but our ancestors did. Longer childhoods could have been a hindrance.
As you know, a larger brain does not necessarily mean a higher intelligence. It could have evolved to simply create a higher volume-surface area ratio that helped preserve heat in their heads.
The question would be other countries, which the cloning of a Neanderthal would likely help extend legal human rights to at least every species in the Homo genus.
Personally I usually avoid the whole human rights for Great Apes (even though I completely agree with it) because I can see both sides of the argument (I believe saving a humans life is more important than any animals life). However, I'd be joining any protest (here in Canada) to extend human rights throughout the whole Homo genus.
Although once we establish human rights for all of the Homo genus, would that legally prevent the cloning of Neanderthals without their prior legal consent?
Um, because they're a different species. Look, I'm all for bringing back extinct species if it's possible -- mammoths, Neanderthals, dodos, whatever -- but it's silly to expect one species to behave identically to another one, even if they are closely related.