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Old 04-09-2012, 12:23 AM   #1
Jürgen Hubert
 
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Default Neanderthal parahumans?

It seems it is possible to get significant amounts of neanderthal DNA. And you just know that someone in the Transhuman Space setting will attempt to recreate them.

So, what should a hypothetical Neanderthal parahuman template look like (based on the latest scientific knowledge of them)? And how would they fit into society?
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Old 04-09-2012, 12:26 AM   #2
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Default Re: Neanderthal parahumans?

Humanoid and a bit muscular with an even higher preference for meat than us, and no known examples of art.
That's about all that's known for sure. Everything else is conjecture.
Even the assumption that they were Caucasian and mostly hairless is excessive anthropomorphication in my book.
(Just because early humans interbred with them doesn't mean as much as it should since humans will "love" anything that sits still long enough.)
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Old 04-09-2012, 12:41 AM   #3
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Default Re: Neanderthal parahumans?

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Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
(Just because early humans interbred with them doesn't mean as much as it should since humans will "love" anything that sits still long enough.)
Hey, I and my robot partner resent that!
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Old 04-09-2012, 01:50 PM   #4
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Default Re: Neanderthal parahumans?

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Originally Posted by Jürgen Hubert View Post
It seems it is possible to get significant amounts of neanderthal DNA. And you just know that someone in the Transhuman Space setting will attempt to recreate them.

So, what should a hypothetical Neanderthal parahuman template look like (based on the latest scientific knowledge of them)? And how would they fit into society?

"N-Words" by Ted Kosmatka is an excellent short story about exactly that.
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Old 04-09-2012, 03:32 PM   #5
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Default Re: Neanderthal parahumans?

I'm reminded of the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy by Robert Sawyer, in which Neanderthals from a parallel-dimension Earth find their way into our world. Of course, these Neanderthals were basically a Mary-Sue race, being genius atheist scientists with incredible physical strength, who'd given up all war centuries ago. Still, an interesting set of books.
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Old 04-11-2012, 06:09 PM   #6
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Default Re: Neanderthal parahumans?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran
Humanoid and a bit muscular with an even higher preference for meat than us, and no known examples of art.
That's about all that's known for sure. Everything else is conjecture.
Even the assumption that they were Caucasian and mostly hairless is excessive anthropomorphication in my book.
(Just because early humans interbred with them doesn't mean as much as it should since humans will "love" anything that sits still long enough.)
Speak for yourself. Anyway, this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZbmywzGAVs is a vid about how Neanderthals may have looked like. The author, Danny Vendramini, is pretty far away from the mainstream with his opinions, but for the sake of a good horror story it's interesting to imagine how Jürgen's Neanderthal cloning experiment turns out that he was uncomfortably close to the truth.
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Old 04-11-2012, 06:09 PM   #7
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Default Re: Neanderthal parahumans?

Pendulum swings from one extreme to another. So human as to be just an ethnicity to non-sapient monsters. Silliness all around.
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Old 04-11-2012, 06:15 PM   #8
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Default Re: Neanderthal parahumans?

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Pendulum swings from one extreme to another. So human as to be just an ethnicity to non-sapient monsters. Silliness all around.
Did you actually read or listen to the story I posted? It's central conceit that Neanderthals were just economically less viable after the extinction of the European megafauna isn't an unlikely one, IMO.
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Old 04-11-2012, 06:47 PM   #9
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Default Re: Neanderthal parahumans?

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Did you actually read or listen to the story I posted? It's central conceit that Neanderthals were just economically less viable after the extinction of the European megafauna isn't an unlikely one, IMO.
My post was in reference to Kitsune's, not anything you wrote.
Exactly why they died out is still up for argument. Though I've read that recent evidence shows that they were "on the way out" before pure-ish humans sauntered onto the scene in Europe.
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Old 04-11-2012, 06:50 PM   #10
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Default Re: Neanderthal parahumans?

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Exactly why they died out is still up for argument.
Perhaps, that it is fiction based on a speculative approach to science is what makes it "science fiction"?
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