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From: mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: The Ethics of Species Engineering ( WAS: Re: Human/Chimp Hy
Message-ID: <34754@cup.portal.com>
Date: 11 Oct 90 16:42:16 GMT
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> 	Do you want the truth?  No, I do not consider chimpanzees primitive
> enough to enslave.  But I believe that for purposes of research that the needs
> of humanity take primacy over the dubious rights of the chimpanzees.  I 
> simply cannot rationalize the halting of medical science so that chimpanzees,
> or any other creature, will no longer have to die for research.

So what exactly has you bothered about the chimpman?  Is it that some human
DNA would be used, and you feel a sharp line should be drawn around humanness?
What if the hybrid was 99.99% chimp and 0.01% human?  Would that help?

Would it be okay if the experiment was done with totally non-human DNA, like
chimp/dog?  Or chimp/CAD-generated?

Does your uncomfort extend to non-DNA components of humanness, such as the
mind?  If I discovered a way to upload a copy of human consciousness, then
download it into a chimp brain, would you find that objectionable?
How about if the brain was made out of integrated circuits?

Or is your uncomfort connected to the technology involved?  If I could produce
a sentient chimp solely through selective breeding, could I count on your
approval?