Everyone keeps talking about identical twins as being the prime example of cloning. Problem: twins usually grow up together, are the same age, and are usually subjected to comparable environmental stresses.
Why is that a problem? Because everyone here is forgetting the fact that to clone you, they have to start with an embryo. Cloning an adult would require cloning each cell individually, while creating them all at once. Mutation occurs in your cells every time they split. Your cells can split several times a day.
Why is age a problem? Because you must create the clone using an embryo. Your clone would be a newborn. If we were to clone Steven Hawkings, he would likely meet someone who looks very much like him, but is totally different due to different environmental stresses during childhood. And yes, the childhood MUST be experienced by the clone. You cannot simply age the clone to adulthood in a matter of hours. They are still human, and age just the same.
The result is that there will never be perfect clones. The closest we can come is to children who look a lot like the adults they were created from.
As to the moral implications...
I think that cloning is warranted in some cases. A stillborn child might yet live if we create a clone. Still, the problems abound: Life will lose worth in the eyes of many if we can simply create more. That stillborn child will only live if the death resulted from external trauma.
Murder, bloodshed, etc., will all increase because the value of life will drop in the eyes of the uneducated. Believing that you can create the perfect copy is the first step toward believing you can destroy the original without consequence.
3rd
Slashdot Mirror
Everyone keeps talking about identical twins as being the prime example of cloning. Problem: twins usually grow up together, are the same age, and are usually subjected to comparable environmental stresses. Why is that a problem? Because everyone here is forgetting the fact that to clone you, they have to start with an embryo. Cloning an adult would require cloning each cell individually, while creating them all at once. Mutation occurs in your cells every time they split. Your cells can split several times a day. Why is age a problem? Because you must create the clone using an embryo. Your clone would be a newborn. If we were to clone Steven Hawkings, he would likely meet someone who looks very much like him, but is totally different due to different environmental stresses during childhood. And yes, the childhood MUST be experienced by the clone. You cannot simply age the clone to adulthood in a matter of hours. They are still human, and age just the same. The result is that there will never be perfect clones. The closest we can come is to children who look a lot like the adults they were created from. As to the moral implications... I think that cloning is warranted in some cases. A stillborn child might yet live if we create a clone. Still, the problems abound: Life will lose worth in the eyes of many if we can simply create more. That stillborn child will only live if the death resulted from external trauma. Murder, bloodshed, etc., will all increase because the value of life will drop in the eyes of the uneducated. Believing that you can create the perfect copy is the first step toward believing you can destroy the original without consequence. 3rd