Hey, we were just talking about cloning in my philosophy class....
No, I don't think we should clone humans. It's not for any religious reason or because I think we'd be playing God (because I don't believe there is a God), but because it could turn society into nothing but a bunch of identical twins. Just because we have the technology doesn't mean we need to use it. What I DO think they should focus more research on is cloning human tissues and organs, which would save many people who are on organ donor lists but are unable to get a match. And I'm for stem-cell research...the assistant principal at my high school had cancer and he had stem cell therapy which got the cancer into remission, so since then it's something that I think we should look more into.
And Brave New World is a VERY good book...
Wow, I agreed with Jackie.
I really have no problem with it. In fact I support it in most cases, depending on how far it goes. Brave New World is a good book, but something like that would be many, many years off, if it ever occurred. But say, cloning organs or even limbs for transplants would save countless lives. Cloning species made endangered by mankind, or close to extinction would be a major environmental break through. Thats practical scientific applications. Cloning who people who are normal is still years beyond us, but should they ever get there once again, what is wrong with it, a person is shaped by experience, by nurture, just because a person is an exact genetic replica does not mean they are going to have the same personality, dreams and so forth, they will be an individual (just thought I would say that in case any body says "what if they clone Hitler one day"😉
Yes it is a great book.What year is it supose to take place in anyway?I don't think they ever said.And I think the book came out the same time as 1984!
Anyway it may take a while for them to start cloning human beings but I hope they never do.I mean I would not want someone that looks like me going around.
That would be scary!JM
The way cloning is likely to work is that the clone will have to start of as a baby and grow, thus it is unlikly there would ever be a time when there are two or more people going around that look exactly the same. Maybe someone who looks like you once did, but say your 20, and some cells were taken, and a clone made, by the time the clone was 20 you would be 40. Add to the fact that it will be living a different life, perhaps it would decide not to exercise, or be raised in some different eviroment that were health fanatics, there would be physical variations at some point.
No, I understand what your saying JM, and its a good point not to jump into something that has such serious consiquences, and something like this will always be surrounded by powerfal emotions, but I think that it is a good thing if they could use cloning to say cure disease, or save lives. That is not so much about playing God, but rather as a way of utilising it for a good reason, much like other medical sciences. Cloning a whole human however, trying to create life in that way, however, does not enter into that. I don't think its needed, but I will wait and see.
And I know its not possible to do it yet, I was merely using that as an example. The knowledge to clone a full healthy human is still at least 60 years off, and thats with government support, more likely it wont be in our life times.
