Should the scientific community be allowed to bring an extinct creature back to life?

By Carina (Age 12, Chinese International School)

I believe that Neanderthals should not be brought back to life just so we can conduct research on them. Neanderthals do not fall into the categories of humans or animals, which brings up the question of how they should be treated and researched.

With regards to the living conditions, it would be hard to decide on where they should be placed. If they are placed in a room while being researched, it would be forcing them to go under psychological torture. To do research, you would have to force the Neanderthal to do something under surveillance. The Neanderthals would be treated as lab-rats for humans to learn more about them. Instead of placing the Neanderthals in a room, putting them into a zoo is just as bad. Even if they would be living in their natural habitat, they would be confined and locked up in a cage. Being in a zoo would also mean they would be treated the same way animals are treated.

The amount of freedom they are given will be very limited. Since the world is no longer what it used to be 30,000 years ago, they would need to be watched every minute of the day. They might be kept indoors for their whole lives for safety issues. Being new to the world, they could start destroying everything they believe to be hazardous. But if the Neanderthal were to be kept indoors and away from the world, then there would not even be a reason to bring it back to life. If it were allowed to be out in the open, it would be followed by someone at the same time being restricted from going to some places, and it would be no different from staying indoors.

The type of research done on the Neaderthal would be a benefit for humans, but torturous to the Neaderthal. Psychological research would be forcing them to do what they do not want to do. It could hurt them mentally, and it could even drive them insane. Surgical research would be treating them like their life is dispensable. Performing surgery just to know more about them could kill them, then the amount of money funded for this research would become a waste. To us it would be gaining more knowledge, but to them it is torture against their will.

To prevent any abuse to the Neanderthal, I believe it would be better if we do not tamper with their lives, rather than to create them just to torture them.