Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Why would anyone want to clone a human being?...

This is topic Why would anyone want to clone a human being?... in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=000167

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 03-11-2001, 06:06 PM:

This is moraly wrong. Didn't they learn from the sheep. Clone a sheep from a three year old sheep. When the sheep reaches three years old they check the age of the cells and find that the three year old sheep is actualy six years old.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 03-11-2001, 06:47 PM:

Darryl, I agree with you.

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 03-11-2001, 06:55 PM:

I would only like to clone myself, if I could then take over that body and have a younger, less abused me. (With modifications) But a clone wouldn't be you; it would be like an identical twin. Since, by all indications, I am unique, I wouldn't want a copy of me walking around. Cloning may be good for growing body parts. If the ethics of this can be worked out, I would support it.

The Irish potato famine of the last century proved that diversity is the answer. Although there are hundreds of different types of potatoes, the Irish only grew one. When a pest wiped out that one strain of potato then the people went hungry. If the Irish had grown but three types of potatoes, then they wouldn't have starved.

The cloning of humans will be done soon, but I am sure that it will be outlawed like marrying your sister is outlawed. Genetic diversity is good, genetic copying is bad.

Now, if we could just clone Joe Redifer…(After all, the army does need targets to practice on.)

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-11-2001, 07:10 PM:

Yes I would love to have my clones be shot at just for practice! Can I shoot one up, too?

Maybe Bevan would join the Army just so he could take a shot as well!

Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 03-11-2001, 07:43 PM:

Look at that picture on the left. If you would like to have a clone of that young man, simply put a single dollar bill in the mail marked to my attention.

Do it right away. before you forget and I run out of clones.

Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 03-11-2001, 11:04 PM:

I find the cloning of humans furor funny. Identical twins are clones, just as much as any other type of clone. Plants have been cloned by humans for centuries, if not millenia. Whenever a cutting is taken from a plant and stuck in the ground, the plant is cloned.

If someone clones himself, thinking it will somehow make him immortal, he's nuts. I've seen identical twins that hate each other. Call it soul, conciousness, ego, or id, you can't clone the essence of the thoughts and feelings that make up any of the higher animals. The religious issues are specious, since identical twins are already recognized by churches as distinct beings with individual souls, and artificial fertilization is accepted by most religions, even though it breaks the sacred bonds of matrimony by allowing a third party to become inimately involved in the process of procreation.

BTW, the telemerones(sp?) on Dolly weren't truncated, as far as any reports I've seen. If I'm wrong, I'd appreciate a cite.

I agree with the general idea about diversity within a species being vital, but the potato famine was more a sociological issue between the poor Irish and their landlords and the Brits, who by in large refused to give aid. Potato blight and black rot affect many varieties of spuds, so much so that most seed potato has to come from certified disease free farms away from the general crop areas. Vermont happens to be one of the areas that grows seed potatoes. I know my Vermont history, and my family came from a long line of farmers (some Irish, some various varieties of Brit).

IMO, cloning humans won't have 1/100th the effect of genetically altering food crops. The corn fiasco shows how weak the safeguards are. Duplicating a small number of beings at the top of the food chain is bound to have less effect on the entire system than playing with the basic foodstuffs we all depend on. One rogue plant strain that is invasive, toxic, and able to cross-pollinate could destroy much of the animal life on the planet if left unchecked.

Hey!, what I don't know about projectors I make up in other areas that are much more useless. Just don't ask me the proper way to time a shutter to get maximum light without ghosting.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 03-12-2001, 12:54 AM:

I think people have entirely WRONG idea about cloning. It seems like people have this idea that it's like making a "living photo copy" of somebody.

In truth, the two people or animals are only genetically identical. Just like identical twins, there WILL be some differences between the two people. How many times have you seen twins that you can easily tell apart after you meet them a few times. The differences may be subtile but they are there.

Second, since people can't have identical life experiences they are BOUND to have slightly different personalities. Yes, there are all these stories about identical twins being separated at birth who are reunited as adults only to find out that they have both become firefighters, or something. Anecdotal evidence is pretty convincing but what I bet you DON'T hear about are the stories where people end up being DIFFERENT. Psychologically, we ALL want to find similarities, even if the connection isn't really there.

Finally, if somebody were to clone ME. (Let's just suppose for the sake of arguement... God knows WHY anybody would want somebody else like ME! )
The clone would be 35 years younger than me! He would be growing up in a different society than the one I grew up in and he would have different parents. Those forces that shaped ME wouldn't be the forces that shape my hypothetical clone. The best we can hope for is somebody who looks a lot like me when I was a kid. Who knows, maybe he'll be even goofier than I am!

The only way we could have identical people by making clones would be to make TWO clones of the same person and then put them in a "sterile", controled environment until they are old enough to have had their personalities "set-in".

I think it's far-fetched enough just to make ONE clone! It makes a great subject for a MOVIE, though!

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 03-12-2001, 10:53 PM:

Actually this may have an advantage
Clone myself and get more work done

Posted by Rachel Carter (Member # 693) on 03-12-2001, 11:35 PM:

Bob,

Where do I mail my dollar?????? Give me an address!!!!

Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 03-13-2001, 06:42 AM:

Rachel, You can send your dollar to either of the following:

Your local "Jimmy Fund" or the"Will Rogers Hospital"

and remember it is tax deductible.

Thanks, for your sense of humor.

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 03-13-2001, 07:25 AM:

Ian said>

>The cloning of humans will be done soon, but I am sure that it will be outlawed like marrying your sister is outlawed. .>

My God !! Marrying your sister isn't allowed? I better tell my Alabama cousins.

Posted by Andrew McCrea (Member # 674) on 03-15-2001, 08:52 PM:

Gordon,

That's a great idea!!!

------------------
Andrew McCrea

"I'm Not Bad, I'm Just Drawn That Way!" - Jessica Rabbit

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 03-16-2001, 09:57 PM:

I wonder if that means I will have too pay twice as much income tax

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 03-16-2001, 11:09 PM:

Remember the movie Multiplicity with Michael Keaton. The clones kept getting dumber.

Posted by Dwayne Caldwell (Member # 417) on 03-23-2001, 03:25 AM:

Jerry,

Dolly's three old year cells showed telomere lengths similar to that of a six year old sheep indicating a premature aging. You can read the article here:

http://genetics.tqn.com/science/genetics/library/weekly/aa082000a.htm

I also read that Persephone and her sister calves (now heifers as the article indicates) have had their telomeres lengthened possibly giving them a prolonged lifespan by about fifty percent. More information on the article here:

http://genetics.tqn.com/science/genetics/library/weekly/aa082100a.htm

I'm curious. Would a clone have the exact same fingerprints as the "master" human? I ask because identical twins do not.

------------------
The man with the magic hands.

Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 03-23-2001, 07:58 AM:

No. Fingerprints are not genetically determined. There was some interesting work described a few years back on fingerprints and the various spots and blotches of color in animal fur, such as zebras and cheetahs.

As I remember, the process to make a particular pattern was determined, but not the exact pattern.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-23-2001, 01:01 PM:

Well, there goes my plan to clone Dwayne and have him commit all of my evil crimes. Oh well, maybe the real Dwayne will commit my crimes for me anyway.

Posted by Dwayne Caldwell (Member # 417) on 03-23-2001, 02:51 PM:

Ask me in a couple of weeks, Joe. I may very well lose my sanity by then.

------------------
The man with the magic hands.

Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 03-23-2001, 03:08 PM:

Has anyone noticed that Joe and Dwayne are begining to look like each other? I wonder....

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-23-2001, 05:31 PM:

Ummmm.. yeah whatever you say!

Hopefully Dwayne will be able to commit my evil crimes, because I am running out of time to commit them with, and I have to get them done! I am SO running behind on my evil crimes.