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From: mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.med
Subject: Neoteny and Human Genetic Engineering
Message-ID: <13127@cup.portal.com>
Date: 2 Jan 89 21:15:04 GMT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 31

At the end of Stephen Jay Gould's book Mismeasure of Man, there is a short
epilogue regarding his belief that man is a neotenous form of an ape-like
ancestor.

Neoteny refers to juvenile characteristics.  For decades, some scientists
have noticed that some animals appear like neotenous versions of other
animals.  For example, the head of an adult spaniel appears similar to
the head of a terrier puppy.  The illustration in Gould's book shows the
human-like shape of a baby chimp's head.

As I recall, there a tremendous amount of common genetic material between
ourselves and our closest primate relatives.  I forget the exact figure,
but only a few percent makes the difference between a man, a gorilla, or
a chimpanzee.

What if that small amount of difference encodes a clock that decides when
to arrest the development of adult features?  Wouldn't it be fun to try
pushing it forward to get a race of super-geniuses, or pushing it back to
see what pre-man must have been like?  Of course there would be enormous
social problems with trying to do it in this country, but once the Human
Genome Project reveals the clock, a technological backwater nation could
do it as an exercise and demonstration of their own talent (recall the
pioneering work in fetal cell transplants done in Mexico).

Another possibility, with lighter ethical baggage, would be to neotenize
one of our primate cousins.  If its intelligence could be raised by a
factor of 10, it could be darn useful as an assistant or for assembly-line
work.

Imagine that!  "Hey Chimpman, change the channel."  "Chimpman, bring me a beer."
"Chimpman, grade this stack of freshman midterm exams."