Steven Smith:
>Vince:
>>So far, it looks like nobody has published about experiments attempting to
>>cross a Human and a Chimpanzee. Even just testtube experiments would be
>>extremely interesting.
>>Dont you think that such an experiment would be so completely unethical
>(even in a testtube) that no one would ever try it, let alone publish
>it? I wouldnt hold my breath on this one EVER being done, and would
>be very shocked to hear that it had.
The ethical problems are going to be different from culture to culture
and person to person. Given the potential impact of the result
of the experiment on the world views of billions of people, I expect
that someday it will be done. Religious people all over the world
would have to ponder questions like "Does the hybrid have a half of
a sole?" and "Would a 1/8th human have 1/8 of a sole?". The
Creationist who accept "microevolution" but not "macroevolution"
would not have the problem that Humans and Chimps are of the same
"kind" by their definition and so it would only take "microevolution"
to get from a Chimp to a Human. To me the importance of the result
outweighs the ethical problems.
-- Vince
