Dolphins deserve same rights as humans, say scientists

Some people think neanderthals and humans mixed genes.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal_genome_project)

> the project published their results in the May 2010 journal Science detailing an initial draft of the Neanderthal genome based on the analysis of four billion base pairs of Neanderthal DNA. The study determined that some mixture of genes occurred between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans and presented evidence that elements of their genome remain in that of non-African modern humans.

But some people think this genetic overlap is the result of a common ancestor, and not from interbreeding.

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/aug/14/study-doubt-hu...)

We give special consideration to primates - not just because they're rare but because they're close relatives to humans. Vivisection is limited pretty strictly if you're using non-human primates.

Would there be much difference between a chimp and a neanderthal? Neanderthals had the FOXp2 gene, and a hyoid bone, so they might have had language. Hunting is a complex activity, and so there's strong possibility that they needed language.

I guess having a language would be enough to guarantee extra protections?

(Having said all this, modern humans happily butcher each other every day, so who knows what'll happen for dolphins or hypothetical Neanderthals.)

The things that I have been thinking a lot about lately are --

What happens when natural death is reduced by 99% and human levels of intelligence are extended to countless genetically customized biological lifeforms?

Do sentient computers that consume non-renewable resources have the right to reproduce and live? Who would enforce either option?

I think we are at the early stages of experiencing a paradigm change in human philosophy. In some part, because much of traditional human beliefs simply hold no foundation with reality (religious and otherwise.) Secondly, the things that were distant science fiction now exist or is within reach. The Star Wars/Star Trek view of the future and space travel mere decades later has become archaic.

I happened to read "The Age of Spiritual Machines" by Ray Kurzweil over a decade ago. It completely changed my thought process in regards to much of life. (I doubt without it I would have been as strongly convicted about dropping out of college and starting an internet business.) As technology has advanced since then, I believe it has kept my thinking a step beyond where it would have been otherwise.

The average person, even equipped with the latest smartphone, is unequipped to deal with these radical changes. Children can no longer look to their parents for patterns on how to live their lives, because their parents lives will not remotely resemble their own.

These are very good opportunities for start ups.

Carve out a new nation of only Neanderthal, and I suspect we will go at it like we were making up for old time. Pop a few Neanderthal down in the middle of London, raising the first few to be familiar with human civilization (to the extent that this may be possible), and I would be a bit more optimistic about the outcome.

How we treat others seems to have a lot more to do with context than merit.

English? Where did I say that?

However, communication verbal or nonverbal that conveys agreement to participate in a society is a requirement.

This kind of communication would need to happen either individually or representatives cetaceans would need to come forward who could vouch for others of their species. From there, we'd need to observe whether or not the agreement(s) were being followed. This starts to sound silly, doesn't it? But that's what being a member of a society entails. That's what being "human" or reasonably equivalent to oen entails.

    Man has always assumed that he was more intelligent than
    dolphins because he had achieved so much... the wheel, 
    New York, wars and so on... while all the dolphins had
    ever done was muck about in the water having a good time.
    But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that
    they were far more intelligent than man... for precisely
    the same reason.