Originally posted by: PhoeniXof_Hades
Can't remember having/seeing any discussion on this subject in this forum (the 'search topic' thing isn't working), even though it has become a widely discussed global issue in the recent times. So what are your views on it? Should it be banned, restricted to a certain extent (like monitored by the government), or totally permitted? If it is regulated to an extent, then where do we draw the line? Should human beings be allowed to be cloned too, or should it be done only to animals/plants? Does one have the right to have children irrespective of how it is formed? What are its advantages and disadvantages? Will the society be benefited from it in the long run as expected by many? Will cloned human beings face any social repercussions? Will they be treated as lesser mortals or second class citizens? From a religious / theological perspective, is it equivalent to 'playing God' as said by many?
Horticultural cloning has been done for a long time. Many varieties and cultivars are the result of horticultural cloning. It has been useful in developing plants hardy to insects, herbicides increase yield, grow food crops in poorer soils etc. For example genetically modified corn and soy beans are roundup resistant so you can douse the field with herbicide and all competing weeds and plants will be killed, but the crop will be hardy. I find that it is useful to resolve some food issues we face. So far there have been no extreme repercussions. However, there is the loss of natural species, natural eco-systems and the invasiveness of certain cultivars.
The animal DNA is much more complicated than a plant DNA and so far we have only made small steps in cloning. As OBJ pointed out there are several benefits to cloning like organ transplants as well as curing cancer and diseases. Due to the immense benefit that cloning can have to humans and medical science cloning should be encouraged. However, it should be closely monitored to ensure that scientists don't get too carried away. I think cloning entire animals and entire humans safely to lead a normal biological life is too far out now and should be out of consideration. Cloning should focus on medical science only.
Human and animal cloning. Its too far out there and I don't delve on it too much. They clone humans in baby factories in Brave New World and the thought of that just fascinates me. I mean how cool is that insta babies, no effort. And I'm talking about the nine months and pushing effort here. The Brave New World sounds totally awesome to me sans that weirdness about alphas, betas, deltas and other social conditioning.
Now some people feel that cloning will be a way to gain immortality. That is a thought where I am more intrigued with. As each part of a person withers away you replace it with a cloned part. If the brain is replaced with a cloned brain - what will be implications - what off memory, emotions, a lifetime of conditioning and personality development? Can cloning really stop aging/dying? Or say a dying person clones themselves and relives from a certain age. Is that really immortality - has our memory, feeling and consciousness also cloned. Where does our consciousness fit into the cloned bits of us - can consciousness be cloned?
As for playing God, pish tosh. If God did not want us to play God, we would not have received the powers to play God. Secondly where is the line? I mean when does the fiddling with nature become playing God? Should we stop taking tylenol? Let people die instead of all modern surgeries and medicine? Finally cloning is hardly playing God is it. Its like taking lego blocks of nature and trying to see what you can stack it to be. At least for now we have absolutely no freaking idea or clue what its going to turn out to be and if it will work. Jeez give God some credit God's creation has evolved and sustained for so long. (Unless of course life earth took its own form. Like Gods own evil Cyberdyne system running with a mind of its own. God created, and then went WTF Holy shizzle why wont this thing stop or end. No no no thats not what I wanted abort, retry, reboot. Man this life thing sucks)
Other than that we all play God. We all create life and mold it in our own image. We expect our creation to unconditionally love and revere us, as by creating life - life is now indebted to us. We give them commandments to follow and pass on. And when they displease us with their lack of faith, we smite them with plagues and punishment. But in the end we have no control. Life takes its own form. Life evolves on its own. It believes and follows what it wants, develops in its own direction. Our creation of life is just one small bit of the whole process. Some times I think at some surreptitious psychological level, our faith in God as the all powerful - is in someway to convince ourselves that we are more important that we really are.
