Cloning

I just read in the paper that a scientific company has started cloning pets for huge amounts of money in the USA.

Today,it is feasible to make a perfectly healthy human clone.There are stories that those up for transplantation of lets say,a kidney,will be able to get a cloned healthy kidney in the future.Of course,the kidney would be made of their DNA so the organism wouldnt have negative reactions to it,which is common in today's medicine.

Whats your oppinion on cloning?Would you approve it only for medical purposes,or would it be ok with you if people cloned themselves?Keep in mind,they are already getting ready for cloning cats and dogs somewhere,and a living being is a living being.If creating an artificial life out of nothing was against God(as some say)then people have already screwed up,and can as well start cloning themselves.

Originally Posted by Japut3h

Whats your oppinion on cloning?Would you approve it only for medical purposes,or would it be ok with you if people cloned themselves?Keep in mind,they are already getting ready for cloning cats and dogs somewhere,and a living being is a living being.If creating an artificial life out of nothing was against God(as some say)then people have already screwed up,and can as well start cloning themselves.

I personally find nothing wrong with cloning, people are just taking it (the media included) and blowing it completely out of poportion. Recently the FDA approved cloned foods to be on the market unmarked. I don't really get why people are freaking out. People should read more science books than science-fiction and stop believing wholeheartedly in the media.

EDIT: Why would anyone want to clone a pet anyways? It's no fun having the same pet over and over. (Yes, I have lost a few pets, my loveable cat, a few fish (no I don't bang on the glass), and a dog. They all lived long, healthy lives.)

Cloning animals...thats fine with me, as long as it doesnt get out of hand.

Cloning people...not so much. It has too many dark roads on its horizon.

Originally Posted by Instant Ramen

EDIT: Why would anyone want to clone a pet anyways? It's no fun having the same pet over and over. (Yes, I have lost a few pets, my loveable cat, a few fish (no I don't bang on the glass), and a dog. They all lived long, healthy lives.)

I also read in the paper that the company's first customer will be a woman who wants her dead dog cloned.The dog saved her life once and she was very attached to him.This is dumb if you ask me,the dog she gets will look,think,and probably act like her old dog,but it wont be the same dog.

Although the media lie a lot.Theyll put anything that sells on the cover,even if the story proves to be a complete bunch of crap.The story about the dog and the woman was probably just a way to fill up the empty collumns.

Why are these companies wasting their time bringing back dead pets when they could be instead working on bringing back mammoths or thylacines?

I mean, if you could over a thylacine as a pet which, according to what I've read, are far more nicer, well behaved and quieter than dogs, then people would pay more. And it'd be important for the enviroment as well

I think the today's tehnique cloning bases on creating an embrion out of the completely same cells and DNA as of the cloned person's ones,and placing it in a host mother's body,so that she could give birth to a baby(or a cub) thats completely identical to the person(or animal) that was cloned.

So,if an alive female mamooth specimen would be found,then they could make various duplicates of it.Otherwise,it cant be done.

Originally Posted by Japut3h

So,if an alive female mamooth specimen would be found,then they could make various duplicates of it.Otherwise,it cant be done.

Scientists can clone them if they find a species with a close enough DNA sequence.

It isn't the same person or animal. It's a copy, and it has to start life like any other animal. It will be a baby version of the cloned animal.

It wont bring the dead animal back to life, if will be a different version. It wont have the same experiences as the original animal.
For cloning humans this is especially apparent, because we age at the same speed, whereas pets age and die faster. You would be able to see your pet live 3 lives before you die, but this would not happen with humans.

I don't see the point in cloning humans, because they would never be the same. Why not just use a new set of DNA?

What's wrong with cloning people? It happens all the time, ever heard of identical twins?
--donut3.5--

I'm pretty sure were talking about artificial cloning.

We are, but its the same exact thing, only one is on purpose, the other is by chance.
--donut3.5--

True.I was thinking of something like this too.But i dont get why are people(especially christians)against cloning that much....

The majority of us are not against animal cloning (to a reasonable extent).

We do not want to see humans being cloned, because we believe that humans are made in the image of God.

On a more mortal level, cloning humans can have drastic consequences, in evil hands cloning can be a dangerous tool. (if cloning were able to be practicalized)

On the issue of identical twins, that is not the same as artifical cloning, the twins are ultimately different in their personality and are seperate beings.

Where as with cloning humans, a person becomes the sum of his parts, and that devalues the life of the individual.

Also, the cloning of humans, can lead to another genetic manipulation pitfall...

Custom made children. Sure, the genetic benefits of curing disease is good (if not perhaps bad in the long run for the human race) the idea of parents planning out their child to make them perfect, its simply appauling...this is what the Nazi's strived for, and it would lead to drastic problems in the future.

"I want my child to be 6 feet tall when he grows up..no..make it she..and I want her to have blue eyes, and blonde hair, with no skin blemishes at all...not even a freckle, or mole."

And then the problems begin...

Originally Posted by Elenai

On a more mortal level, cloning humans can have drastic consequences, in evil hands cloning can be a dangerous tool. (if cloning were able to be practicalized)

This isn't science fiction. Fingerprints would still be different.

Originally Posted by Elenai

On the issue of identical twins, that is not the same as artifical cloning, the twins are ultimately different in their personality and are seperate beings.

Cloning would be no different. Personality is more determined by environment than genetic makeup.

Originally Posted by Elenai

Where as with cloning humans, a person becomes the sum of his parts, and that devalues the life of the individual.

Boo-hoo.

Originally Posted by Elenai

Also, the cloning of humans, can lead to another genetic manipulation pitfall...
Custom made children. Sure, the genetic benefits of curing disease is good (if not perhaps bad in the long run for the human race) the idea of parents planning out their child to make them perfect, its simply appauling...this is what the Nazi's strived for, and it would lead to drastic problems in the future.

This would create a stagnation in the gene pool, but that could easily be fixed. Custom-made children seems a little strange to me, but gene stagnation is the only thing that I see wrong with it.

Originally Posted by Japut3h

True.I was thinking of something like this too.But i dont get why are people(especially christians)against cloning that much....

They're against it because it proves them wrong.

Originally Posted by Elenai

Custom made children. Sure, the genetic benefits of curing disease is good (if not perhaps bad in the long run for the human race) the idea of parents planning out their child to make them perfect, its simply appauling...this is what the Nazi's strived for, and it would lead to drastic problems in the future.

"I want my child to be 6 feet tall when he grows up..no..make it she..and I want her to have blue eyes, and blonde hair, with no skin blemishes at all...not even a freckle, or mole."

And then the problems begin...

I suggest watching the movie Gattaca. It revolves around this point exactly.

It is set in the future where humanity is divided between regular humans and these "perfect" ones. It's very good.