First Clone Made from an Adult Human - io9 Comments

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

Cacafuego — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:16:44 PST

@Huxleyhobbes:
Of course, if there's one thing science fiction has taught us, it's that we will not hesitate to enslave and torture and generally be dicks to absolutely any and every being we can remotely justify such a stance towards.
--
Science fiction shows us that? Funny, I thought it was history.

In any case, I view a cloned zygote and an original zygote on the same level--it ain't a person.

Cacafuego

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

Nick Douglas — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:11:51 PST

My favorite bit is that Drudge ran the headline with a photo of the cloned man, in case you see that face again in forty years. Servicey!

Nick Douglas

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

Klebert L. Hall — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 08:40:45 PST

"I agree. My main ethical concern with human cloning is that it's essentially experimenting on a person who can't give consent."

True enough, but so are IVF, emergency medical treatment (in many cases), and, well, raising a child. Life is never fair.
-Kle.

Klebert L. Hall

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

htgeek — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 07:51:21 PST

The way I see it we as a species have been able to create life since the start.If could compel the powers that be not to manipulate the technology to meet there own ends {military applications} ,and give these people a certain quality of life that any of us would expect then we shouldn't fear the process.Another issue is,and I have to agree with teracycloide, is that we can't even decide when life begins for us non-clones . So how do we determine when it stats for them .There are far to many ethical questions to answer before we can touch this one.

htgeek

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

Mister Adequate — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 07:45:16 PST

And yet if you murder an undocumented immigrant, you still get charged with murder despite their lack of legal status. Funny, that.

Of course, if there's one thing science fiction has taught us, it's that we will not hesitate to enslave and torture and generally be dicks to absolutely any and every being we can remotely justify such a stance towards.

Mister Adequate

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

Moff — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:07:08 PST

Clones' rights, sure. And holding robots accountable for war crimes. What's next, making it illegal to sexually harass aliens and elf maidens? I say, America is for Americans, and if you don't like it, GO BACK TO THE UNDERDARK.

I'm pretty drunk.

Moff

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

tetracycloide — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 14:37:43 PST

of course clones are people, that's never really been in question bilogically. the question is, 'at what point of development do we imbue them with human rights?' which is the exact same question we have yet to answer, at least directly, for traditionally produced zygotes, embryoes, and fetuses.

tetracycloide

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

Evil Tortie's Mom — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 14:01:48 PST

Clones are people too! And as others said, less related than twins since they'll all have different mitochondria. The health issues are unfair to them, and lack of genetic diversity is bad but I don't see them as "horrifying" or directly dangerous to us existing people.

But genetic therapy -- we need that.

Evil Tortie's Mom

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

Eac_o_System — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:58:27 PST

Now this is a true milestone! The "Here's my embryo" clone. This is what I've been waiting for. Now when is the Higher Power's wrath exerted? Hmmmm...

Eac_o_System

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

Liz Henry — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:33:24 PST

Why is it so horrifying - I've just never understood it. And is it always men going "how horrifying", or what?

Liz Henry

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

Defendant — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:29:00 PST

I wouldn't expect it to live. Or even be alive in the first place.

Defendant

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

Mathmos — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:28:54 PST

A couple of comments:

Clones will never be more identical than twins. And as someone implied, the techniques used previously employed unrelated eggs with DNA removed, resulting in different mitochondrial DNA.

If any substantial portion of the population is clones, it would seem we will have lost quite a bit of our species' genetic variability, which is said to be low in humans already.

Mathmos

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

X: The Eliminator — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:03:29 PST

@worsethannormal: i agree that clones deserve human rights and i'm also sure that some clones are already out there, mutated or not.

if we can make a corporation a legal entity under the law, it would be criminal (ethically and spiritually) not to recognize a living being, such as a clone, as a legal entity and not a possession.

X: The Eliminator

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

Annalee Newitz — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:58:53 PST

@worsethannormal: I agree. My main ethical concern with human cloning is that it's essentially experimenting on a person who can't give consent.

Annalee Newitz

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

diverguy — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:57:16 PST

excellent..my plans for a cloned army of shock troops is coming together... I'll dress them all in white armor... what should I call them I wonder.. hmmm badweather commando's maybe....

diverguy

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

light_bubble — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:57:12 PST

The problem with cloning is that it foregoes biological natural selection. I can imagine my clone getting pretty pissed off - "Thanks a lot, you gave me life with a fat ass and a pension for night terrors."

light_bubble

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

Gyrus — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:51:15 PST

Cloning is one of those issues where bad sci-fi writing has gotten in the way of progress. All cloning is, is asexual reproduction. Clones won't have your emotions or your memories, they'd just look eerily like you when you were a kid.

Gyrus

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

Spoonman — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:15:12 PST

I wonder about the issues with clones, myself. Until we figure a way to hyper-accelerate growth, it don't do anyone any good. Sure, I could clone myself, but it's not going to pass for me for a few decades...it's the one part of cloning that's always glossed over in scifi.

Spoonman

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

MasterOfPastures — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:13:37 PST

@wingbatwu: Unless theylack memories and- BLADE RUNNER!
Just wanted to kill it before it spunned out of control.
Cloning is bad in my eyes. A selfish gesture. Genetic modification however, is a necessity.

MasterOfPastures

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

wingbatwu — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:06:33 PST

@worsethannormal:

yea but a shortened lifespan means they're less likely to revolt.

wingbatwu

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

tetracycloide — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:59:28 PST

i, for one, welcome our old overlords... again

tetracycloide

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

Metropolis — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:54:13 PST

I wouldn't call it a true clone unless it had his mitochondia as well.

Metropolis

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

worsethannormal — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:52:01 PST

But there are problems with clones. Namely, the DNA used has already been damaged by multiple replication cycles and evironmental effects (radiation, pollution, etc.) This leads to a greater risk genetic mutation in the clone as well as shortened life-span. Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't work towards cloning (I don't think there's anything immoral about cloning) but if we are concerned with human rights (and clones do deserve them) then we should also be concerened with quality of life for cloned organisms and esspecially cloned humans. So I would argue that until we can overcome the problems inherrent in cloning, we should at least be cautious about performing it with human DNA.

worsethannormal

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

buzzbean — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:41:49 PST

Ohh yeah frosted embryo clonees for breakfast. I've never tasted so good.

buzzbean

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

Ju-osh — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:30:51 PST

This shit's only going to take off when you can swallow the embry-clones as easily as morning after pills.

Ju-osh

First Clone Made from an Adult Human

moncapitaine — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:29:43 PST

Yeah, I never understood the big fear about human clones. It wouldn't be an exact copy. I mean,they may look a little like you, but they'll probably have completely different sexual fetishes.

moncapitaine