Human-Animal Chimeras and Dehumanization

The US government recently announced that it was lifting its moratorium on funding certain experiments that use human stem cells to create animals that are partly human. At present scientists are only interested in creating entities with some human qualities, but which remain “mostly” animals. For example, some scientists want to create a chimeric pig with a human-enough heart to transplant into a human.

Distinguishing between humans and other animals is common in most cultures and is certainly central to Western intellectual and religious traditions, so the idea of a part-pig part-human is very unsettling to many people. Warnings about the dangers of mixing animals and humans are also a classic theme in Western culture with novels like the Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells.

We can all agree that the world is not ready for a talking pig, and there is clearly a dystopian novel waiting to written about the pig given human consciousness but without the ability to interact. Moreover, an entity with a human body but a pig brain, which would be useful for human transplants...