It's Time to Make Human-Chimp Hybrids - Issue 58: Self

It is a bit of a stretch, but by no means impossible or even unlikely that a hybrid or a chimera combining a human being and a chimpanzee could be produced in a laboratory. Granted this 1 percent difference presumably involves some key alleles, the new gene-editing tool CRISPR offers the prospect (for some, the nightmare) of adding and deleting targeted genes as desired. As a result, it is not unreasonable to foresee the possibility--eventually, perhaps, the likelihood--of producing "humanzees" or "chimphumans." Such an individual would not be an exact equal-parts-of-each combination, but would be neither human nor chimp: rather, something in between. If that prospect isn't shocking enough, here is an even more controversial suggestion: Doing so would be a terrific idea. The year 2018 is the bicentennial of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, subtitled the modern Prometheus.