TCP / IP Lab

Typical. Academia can't see the forest for the trees: From some Korean news site: The civil class action suit "H. neanderthalensis v. H. sapiens, et al" (where collection from any positive judgment will be held in trust pending DNA verification of co-defendants based on percentages of h. neanderthalensis DNA and mDNA) has gained "pre-litigation" status at the Permanent Court of International Justice, sometimes called the World Court, in The Hague, Netherlands. Litigants seek to be awarded "reparations, to be held in trust, in kind or property" for what they claim was the "coordinated dislocation, displacement and extinction [of] H. neanderthalensis at the will of and supervision of H. sapiens" from mainland Europe, where H. neanderthalensis was the "primary occupant and predator...prior to the African exodus and subsequent and consequent incursion by H. sapiens." "We're proving a point here, striking a blow for victims of Speciesism, currently at a historical high point. We're sending a message to future generations that extragenus branching is not mutation and is not justification for destruction of a subspecies or sister-species", said Dr. Hans Guerder, advocate general for Interdisciplinary Pedagogical Law & Justice, based in Hamburg, Germany. Controversy, incredulity, and Internet parodies have dogged the group since their 2005 filing at The World Court in The Hague. The very idea that such a potentially massive financial judgment, €100 Billion - however remote the possibility of an award - has attracted numerous special interest groups as well as criticism from governments, academia, and even the normally quiet world of paleoarcheology. Herbert Schuman, professor of archeology and geological history at Universität Heidelberg in Heidelberg, Germany is not amused, "This is an affront to an important and serious evolutionary avenue of research and historical investigation. The idea that there exists a pecuniary value to life, the life of any species, prior to monetization of property, let alone the invention of money, is outrageous and a wasteful distraction from the real funding challenges that [Neanderthal] research and exploration is facing today. It's an insult." But Dr. Schuman may have to wait a long time for the furor in the scientific and legal communities to fade away. The newly emerging bioancestry market, where anyone can mail a cheek swab containing their DNA to a company who will research the geographic and ethnic origin of their heritage, has been growing at an estimated 800% per year. Dr. Guerder's office is already receiving calls from potential "plaintiffs".