Oh they were VERY talented. It took them many, many attempts before they perfected the "PERFECT SLAVE." The following 2nd quote makes me wonder - Is this what really happened to Neanderthal? Is this why "God" says to Replenish (literally means to re-populate; to re-people) the Earth? Were the first humans completely destroyed?

"I shall establish a savage. Man will be his name. Verily, savage-man I shall create. He will be charged with the service of the Gods, that they might be at ease." Sumerian Creation Epic

“Let us make him who shall nourish and sustain us. What shall we do to be invoked, to be remembered in earth? We have tried with our first creatures, but we could not make them venerate us. So then, let us try to make obedient, respectful beings, who shall nourish and sustain us.” (The Maya Popul Vuh)

Zeus gathered the gods in council to express his concern that these unusual creatures would one day challenge their hegemony. He was loathe to exterminate them with his thunderbolts, though, because there would be no one to bring the gods offerings. He solved the problem by putting each creature into a trance and then splitting it down the middle…Upon awakening, each half only dimly remembered what it had been prior to being cleft in two. Zeus explained to the assembled gods and goddesses the cleverness of his scheme. These creatures would no longer pose a threat to the gods, because they would dissipate their considerable energy by spending the rest of their days searching for their missing halves - Leonard Schlain (recounting Plato’s Symposium account)