January 22, 2013

Harvard prof isn't advocating gestating a Neanderthal.

He's just saying it's "technically possible someday" and "we need to start talking about it today."
[George M.] Church said he has done perhaps 500 interviews about his research during more than two decades and this is the first one to spiral out of control quite like this.

But he said, “I’m not going to run away. … I want to use it as an educational moment to talk about journalism and technology.”
I bet Neanderthals would be better journalists. Let's get some, pronto, to help us with our endless fuckups.

37 comments:

Fritz said...

Why not? The kid couldn't possibly be more screwed up than some we have running around free.

Shouting Thomas said...

In general, journalism jobs don't pay well enough to pay what a decent Neanderthal wants.

You get what you pay for.

virgil xenophon said...

Hey! How 'bout equal time for us Cro-Magnons!

virgil xenophon said...

PS: Of course the Obama Admin would rather fund research dollars for Piltdown Man..

virgil xenophon said...

Hey! How 'bout equal time for us Cro-Magnons!

chickelit said...

The whole experiment seems more suited for MIT, which used have a contest called "Ugliest Man On Campus" (UMOC) until equal opportunity and a name change to "Ugliest Manifestation On Campus" led to too many female wins. BTW, has anyone determined whether the child will be a boy or a girl?

bagoh20 said...

"You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!"

Automatic_Wing said...

Journalism - So easy a caveman can do it!

Craig Landon said...

civility matters.

To Harvard Professors? Let them take the lead, and we'll see.

Craig Landon said...

civility matters.

To Harvard Professors? Let them take the lead, and we'll see.

Derve Swanson said...

Harvard profs don't talk like they just came up from the gutter.

why this wisconsin professor feels the need to ... act out with the dirty words is beyond me. she's getting 'street' for what purpose here.

what did the fu language add here, was it really called for. smells desperate to me.

bagoh20 said...

Today is a good day for me to just say Fuck You.

Ahhhh! I see the attraction now. That did feel really good.

rhhardin said...

Mark Steyn said it's good news for Republicans. Neanderthals are small government types.

Shouting Thomas said...

Whenever you read anything in the news media, you've got to remember that you're reading something that, most often, was written by a graduate of a journalism department in some college.

Nothing much in the way of professionalism can be expected.

bagoh20 said...

"Nothing much in the way of professionalism can be expected."

Did people see the new O'Keefe video where he goes to editors and others homes who supported publishing the the gun owners map in NY? He poses as an anti-gun activist and tries to get them to put a sign in the yard saying their house is gun free. He couldn't get one taker, and was often repulsed by armed guards.

But, what struck me was the obvious low rate mediocrity of these journalism people, not to mention the hypocrisy. They just seemed not very bright at all. I can't believe we use people like that as sources for anything. They are just weak and stupid and dishonest.

Tim said...

"... to help us with our endless fuckups."

Well, we can't do that.

It wouldn't be journalism anymore.

bagoh20 said...

"You're hiding behind an avatar." Oh contraire, that's me. I'm a real-life superman.

Now Fuck You. Yea this is great! I'm working my way up to some vagina talk. Just let me get my footing here - it's my first time.

Uncle Pavian said...

Considering that most of the bad ideas in the culture seem to emanate from Harvard, my guess is that Professor Church really did want to do exactly what it sounded like. He just got all wobbly when faced with the blowback.

ricpic said...

Neanderthals! Increase the diversity!

That was the gist of Dr. Church's justification for doing this, I kid you not. Forget it Jake, it's Harvardtown.

kentuckyliz said...

We beat those Neanderthals for a good reason. Let extinct dogs lie.

"It's aliiiiiiiiiiiiive!"

YoungHegelian said...

I think we have a secret code phrase for couples in the making here. You know, those phrases that couples have that the meaning is only between the two of them.

You know, like:

"Whatcha doing, honey?"

"Not much, pookie. Just gestating the Neanderthal."

Indigo Red said...

Two years ago the analysis of the Neanderthal genome revealed modern humans carry Neanderthal DNA, implying our ancestors mated with Neanderthals at some point in the past. Scientists only found genetic traces of Neanderthals in non-African people, leading to the conclusion that Neanderthal-human matings must have occurred as modern humans left Africa and populated the rest of the world.

Smilin' Jack said...

"Harvard prof isn't advocating gestating a Neanderthal."

We totally need to do this. Trying to decide if it has a soul will make the Pope's head explode. So cool.

edutcher said...

Gee, I was hoping Lindsay Lohan and Kim Kardashian would be competing to see who could pop out the biggest caveman.

madAsHell said...

He's trying to invent a new grievance class for the 2016 elections.

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

This is so morally wrong. Terminating a Neanderthal Baby instead of gestating him is murder.

But maybe he is setting up for a Harvard man's appointment to the Supreme Court by Obama. Then it would make sense.

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
AHL said...

It could be a girl and her gender identity would be all messed up because people would call her "Neanderthal Man." My biggest fear is that this child will grow up in a lab as opposed to having a happy childhood running around on playgrounds, catching fireflies, playing with puppies and kittens, and eating copious amounts of ice cream. Who would have the legal rights and responsibilities to care for it? Will he or she be disgraced like Quasimodo? This will be interesting for the nature vs. nurture debate though.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Well clearly we need to ask the Roman Catholic Church if this should be legal or not before proceeding with it.

Dante said...

See, this is very interesting to me. Think of all the development that is stopped because of this animal or that animal we are concerned about. Great, get the DNA, and store it for future use. Then we can reintroduce them later.

Also, perhaps we could use Neanderthals for Union jobs.

AlanKH said...

Has Harvard's head football coach weighed in on the idea of cloning Neanderthals?

gerry said...

We spent ten thousand years clubbing them to death in Europe and they want to bring them back?

Eegah!

Tibore said...

Journalism without fuckups? What a fantasy!

Seeing Red said...

Of course he's advocating it.

"Well, I didn't mean now" isn't a defense.

Seeing Red said...

The comments on this story, cynical, but true & funny.

Special diversity laws, special government agency...that type of thing.

Anonymous said...

"...our endless fuckups."

You mean like blogger, lawyer professors mainstreaming the crudest of language? You may be educated, interesting, intelligent and even pretty; but classy? Not so much.