220 clones Pt. 1 2/20/2001

by Staff Writer

Hi folks, I thought of cloning and framing it as a pro/con discussion but for many people including myself its full of moral and ethical quicksand and I wish not to sink in either direction.

The Basics of Cloning: making an exact copy of a living organism.
Twins are split embryo egg cells that gestate and in nine months or less are born together, seconds, or minutes apart. The infant twins are from a females split egg and male sperm naturally born, some people would call these siblings clones. Applied Science is speeding towards the cloning of human’s whether it has been accomplished already or in the process is speculation but knowing our species we will keep trying in secret as private government/public industry projects.

The Bad News:The technology is here, cloning human’s can be banned, slowed, but cannot be stopped. We are economically, scientifically connected globally. Do we really think other countries especially ones with a dictator and a population ready to leave or worse overthrow said dictator(s) will not use this new ‘tech to make ready made “clone soldiers” under a dictators control and what if one their researchers found ways to “serial clone” parts or place the original neural electrochemical imprint [personality] of the dictator into his clone skull overlaid on a new brain and body! You not only have replaceable, non reject internal and external body parts but the potential for a near immortal dictator(s) renewing themselves when possible. And unlike Xerox copies as the technology improves cloning gets cheaper, better, and those cloned bodies last longer.

The Good News: This breakthrough can enable adults, children, the elderly to replace defective organs, blood with healthy ones. See how genes can be improved, make better synthetic genes that are better than our original ones. We’ll be able to control our evolution not for the next generation but in our own. Prevention and cures for many human ills.
We have time to slow the pace, place guidelines, speed is deadly on this and other sciences coming together we must take the time an safeguard our selves.

Here are a few Questions I’ve answered for myself

Are clones human? Though created asexually [without two parents]
if they gestate and grow normally they become normal looking humans, being a copy is the original human’s problem not the clone’s he/she see themselves as normal.

Do they have souls? If a clone is made from skin cells, develops in a female’s womb or artificial one, normally ages the same way most infant do, becomes a toddler, child and hopefully grows up. If they have religious lessons and are taught right from wrong they’ll believe they have souls if not like some normal birthed children they may become psychopathic.

As we all know even the best parents with all the love and protection given their child he or she might end up psychopathic killers... There is no way to know.

My View: If I wants spare parts then my clone should be separate from its brainstem so as not to have a living being suffer. With brainstem, nervous system, and other internal/external organs on-call I’ll have replacement parts ready including replacements for neurons and synapses.

Having a child grow, learn who and what purpose they were created is a cruelty that makes the original human souless not the innocent unknowing clone.

As for “Serial Immortality” [replacing old cloned bodies with new ones].This could be possible for wealthy people or lotto second life winners which can win only once! The problem is everytime this is done it must be perfect each time. I’m thinking A.I. [Artificial Intelligence] medical surgical techniques on the molecular level for gene, cell, and hormone copy and improvements.

I may trust human surgeons but for possible ongoing near immortality by serial cloning give a high tech ‘molecular mechanic to work on me from my first gene sequence to last neuron human hands and brains have to many flaws for me to trust them to. Anyone have positive or negative views on your own personal view on cloning, its challenges and pitfalls just sound off.