--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Richard Baker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > JDG said: > > > The problem with your question is that there seems to be plenty of > > evidence that not all DNA is created equal - that some DNA is more > > important than other DNA. Thus, its hard to really speak about your > > hypothetical, as simply speaking about DNA in terms of percentages > > doesn't seem to be all that usefull. > > In which case: which parts of the phenotypic expression of genes are > most important for categorisation as human? ....
> An alternative and more science-fictional version of the same sort of > situation. Suppose we have a "time scoop" that can pluck ancestors of > modern humans out of the past and into the present (after they've > performed their role as ancestors!). Let's suck up enough such > ancestors to make up a small town's population, grabbing them at 1000 > year intervals (or, if you prefer, at some interval defined by number > of generations). I don't think anyone would argue that the ancestors > from AD1000, AD1 or 1000BC shouldn't be granted human rights. But how > about the small rodent-like ones from 100,000,000BC? Then where is > the line to be drawn? In this later example - given recent thinking about human ancestry, you actually should probably have no trouble finding individuals who left no modern ancestors.... On the other hand, since time travel is likely impossible, that's probably a more serious difficulty... More serious, in regards tp both examples, I'm not a biologist, let alone a geneticist. I should re-emphasize that in both these cases I would presume the individual to be human until fully satisified that such an individual is not human, and presume that the individual has all the rights of an adult humanuntil fully convinced that whichever human rights in question do not apply. Some of the characteristics I would consider: -Can the adult indivudal produce an adult offspring with human? -Can the adult individual construct abstract thoughts? Can the adult individual master a language? JDG _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
