Cloning an Almost-Human?

In a fascinating article on Slate, there is a report that scientists are almost ready to clone a woolly mammoth:

Last week in Nature, scientists reported major progress in sequencing the genome of woolly mammoths. They reconstructed it from two fossilized hair samples. One was 20,000 years old; the other was 65,000 years old. Now, according to Nicholas Wade of the New York Times, biologists are discussing "how to modify the DNA in an elephant's egg so that after each round of changes it would progressively resemble the DNA in a mammoth egg. The final-stage egg could then be brought to term in an elephant mother."

But that's not all:

The full genome of the Neanderthal, an ancient human species probably driven to extinction by the first modern humans that entered Europe some 45,000 years ago, is expected to be recovered shortly. If the mammoth can be resurrected, the same would be technically possible for Neanderthals.

That sort of brings the Geico commercials to life, doesn't it? But, this again brings us to the Jurassic Park question: It's not whether we could do this, but whether we should do it. Should we? As interesting as it would be, I think not.

My objections have very little to do with messing with the human procreation mechanism or human DNA, as the Catholic bishop states in the article, although that is an ethically risky proposition. The monsters that nature creates on her own through the horrible genetic defects that sometimes occur could scarcely be called human just by appearances. If we didn't know that they were born of human parents, we would have to do DNA tests to be sure. No, my objections have to do with the social ramifications.

While we could certainly learn a lot about Neanderthals, and probably humans, by creating new ones through cloning, what would that mean for them? What would that mean for us? Would this create a new social class? Would they be considered human or animal? How would we treat them? Would our treatment be ethical?

No, this brings up too many ethical quandaries that humanity is not ready to deal with, much less resolve. Better to just leave well enough alone and not open that can of worms.