> I would think it’s cruel to try and bring another mammoth back to what ever we currently think is a good for them
Bias for what is 'cruel' cannot exist without historical context, for Mammoths or even humans for that matter.
Any species (human or otherwise) is a product of its environment. We've seen this time and time again in historical examples such as human sacrifices, fights to the death, torture- all these ideals were cultivated and accepted by the majority at one point or another.
It's important to also recognise that mammoths only became extinct roughly 4000 years ago and that they are the closest ancestor to modern day elephants. Mammoths existed at the same point in time as bison, grizzly bears, and camels. Camels even predate mammoths and co-existed with species like the giant beaver.
In the timeline of evolution 4000 years is an extraordinarily short period. I'd wager that reintroducing mammoths into a suitable environment would go surprisingly smoothly.
> If humans go extinct and some alien species works out how to clone us in vitro and put us in a breathable atmosphere, do you think that would be a life worth living? Hard pass for me
This seems like a catch-22. In this example, you would be reborn in a new environment with zero historical knowledge of the human race.
As odd as it seems... Even if you were made to ride around an alien spaceship naked on a unicycle for your foreseeable lifetime, you would still have no context in the slightest for if this would be a life worth living for you, or if it is an experience you would want to endure.
You would be crafting and designing the social norms for your ancestors from scratch.
Bias for what is 'cruel' cannot exist without historical context, for Mammoths or even humans for that matter.
Any species (human or otherwise) is a product of its environment. We've seen this time and time again in historical examples such as human sacrifices, fights to the death, torture- all these ideals were cultivated and accepted by the majority at one point or another.
It's important to also recognise that mammoths only became extinct roughly 4000 years ago and that they are the closest ancestor to modern day elephants. Mammoths existed at the same point in time as bison, grizzly bears, and camels. Camels even predate mammoths and co-existed with species like the giant beaver.
In the timeline of evolution 4000 years is an extraordinarily short period. I'd wager that reintroducing mammoths into a suitable environment would go surprisingly smoothly.
> If humans go extinct and some alien species works out how to clone us in vitro and put us in a breathable atmosphere, do you think that would be a life worth living? Hard pass for me
This seems like a catch-22. In this example, you would be reborn in a new environment with zero historical knowledge of the human race.
As odd as it seems... Even if you were made to ride around an alien spaceship naked on a unicycle for your foreseeable lifetime, you would still have no context in the slightest for if this would be a life worth living for you, or if it is an experience you would want to endure.
You would be crafting and designing the social norms for your ancestors from scratch.