Ye Shall Be As Gods? - Class 3, Period 3

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"Today's topic," she said with a faint smile, once everyone had taken their seats, "is cloning." The weekend might have given her the idea to talk about this now, yes. Not that Juli had found the radio to be highly amusing or anything. And she was terribly grateful that she’d been spared any strangeness while it had been happening.

"Specifically, I want to discuss human cloning. Cloning is creating, essentially, an exact genetic replica of a human being or part thereof. In this world, at this time, full human cloning - that is, the creation of a living human being, is impossible." Juli might have been amused by this. "I am sure, quite sure, that this is not the case for all of you. In my universe cloning is quite possible."

"How many of you have heard stories about 'evil' twins? There is some truth in those when it comes to cloning. You cannot, and I repeat, cannot clone someone's personality from a purely genetic standpoint. A clone will be an exact physical replica - but variations in the upbringing can produce significantly different people despite them starting as the 'same'. Just because someone can be created to look like you, does not mean they will act like you.” Leaning against the front of the desk, Juli crossed her hands neatly over her stomach and tried not to look too amused. “No one can say exactly why any of us turn out the way we do."

"With that in mind," she continued on, glancing at each of her students for a few seconds before moving on to the next, "I'd like the class to discuss why would anyone want to clone someone when there is no guarantee of them turning out to be the person you wanted. What would be a positive side to cloning? A negative? If cloning was wide-spread what sort of an affect do you think it would have on the world over time?"

[Wait for the OCD is up! Have at it!]

Comments

Discuss!

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

Cloning! Good idea? Bad idea? Why would anyone want to? What effects would cloning have on a civilization? On a personal scale, how would you feel to be cloned?

[And, also? I'll be pinging where and when I can, but feel free to invade each other's threads!]

Re: Discuss!

[multiplez]

Z looked around for someone to discuss this with. Cloning, she could do cloning. No, really. She could do cloning.

Re: Discuss!

[redintraining.livejournal.com]

Sky, who was sitting next to Z, couldn't help but smirk at her.

"This topic's your speciality, isn't it?"

Re: Discuss!

[multiplez]

"Not the way she's talking about it, but yeah, pretty much," Z said with a grin. "Clones are awesome. Especially when you have a lot of homework."

Re: Discuss!

[redintraining.livejournal.com]

"That would come in handy, I guess," said Sky. "How many can you make at a time, anyway? I don't think I've ever seen you do it."

Re: Discuss!

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge looks thoughtful. "What if people just cloned themselves instead of having kids in, uh, more traditional ways?" he asks.

Re: Discuss!

[im-fullmetal.livejournal.com]

"That wouldn't be smart. You'd limit the possibility of genetic adaptation to changing circumstances," Ed pointed out.

Re: Discuss!

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Exactly," Bridge says. "But I'm sure there's people out there who are arrogant enough to believe they can't be improved upon."

Re: Discuss!

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"What do you think would happen after a few generations of that?" Juli countered his question with one of her own.

Re: Discuss!

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"I think things would stagnate... like, genetic diversity, and all that. And also, there could be problems with cloning clones."

Re: Discuss!

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"Cellular degeneration." Juli nodded, "Depending on the level of science involved in the cloning process it's highly likely. Can you think of any good reasons why people would clone people?"

Re: Discuss!

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

Cloning? Anemone blinked, confused. "I don't get it. A species can't evolve if it only creates exact replicas of itself. If everything else around you continues to change, you'll eventually reach a stagnation point and be unable to compete with other organisms. It's kinda stupid."

Re: Discuss!

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"That's one long term prediction," Juli said, "and a very negative, but realistic one. Can you think of any positives to the same scenario?"

Re: Discuss!

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

Kabuto pushed his glasses up, then crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. "Cloning is useful if there's something you want to test and see if it will work on a specific person, if you have the time to wait. Otherwise it's pretty useless, since it's the changes in genetics that lead to different skills and abilites, and continues the adaptation of humankind."

Re: Discuss!

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"That does seem to be the general consensus," Juli said, "why do you think then, that so many people attempt to clone themselves? What makes them think that is a good idea?"

Re: Discuss!

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

Kabuto shrugged. "I don't know." He wasn't being overly talkative. Normally he'd have a much stronger opinion about things. He was too distracted, right now.

Re: Discuss!

[practicaldevice.livejournal.com]

"Cloning technology can be useful, just as long as it's not used to actually clone full people."

Re: Discuss!

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"No exceptions?" Juli asked mildly, "Can you not think of at least one circumstance where cloning a person might be a good thing?"

Re: Discuss!

[practicaldevice.livejournal.com]

Anathema considered this. "Not really."

Re: Discuss!

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"Cloning sucks," Peter said. He was direct and to the point this week.

Re: Discuss!

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"Can you elaborate on that?" Juli asked, mildly amused.

Re: Discuss!

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"It sucks a lot?" Peter tried. "A whole lot?"

Re: Discuss!

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"You might feel as though you're only someone else's echo," Naminé said softly. "That all you can or ever be has already been set by their limits."

Re: Discuss!

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

Juli nodded, pleased to have gotten an answer that hadn't been covered already. "And how much of that do you think would be true? Or is it merely a concept imposed by others until the clone believes it entirely?"

Re: Discuss!

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"I'm ... not certain anyone can say for sure," she said slowly, shaking her head. "There's an essence to everyone - call it the soul, or the heart, or the spirit. If that person is split in two, does the heart likewise split? Does it stay with one and leave the other without, an incomplete copy? Can such things grow? By definition they can't be measured, so how can you begin to find out?"