Is there anything ethically wrong with cloning humans?

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I just read that scientists in Great Britain have successfully cloned monkeys now. One day we will reach a point where we'll have the ability to clone humans successfully. What would be wrong with that, ethically speaking? If you take the religious out of the equation, I think it would not only be okay to clone humans, but it would be silly not to. Is there any ethical reason not to?

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The reason for most of our world problems have to do with overpopulation.
.
We don't need more problems.

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What happens to your imperfect discards while you're experimenting.

Isn't this an ethical as well as a religious consideration?

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SCREW DEATH, BACK UP COPY YOURSELF TODAY!

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Kicky what benefit do you see from having the ability to clone people?

Spare parts?

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If they do it right, it's just another way to have babies. No big deal, really.

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edgarblythe wrote:

If they do it right, it's just another way to have babies. No big deal, really.

You are a man edgar, think about it.

No more sex!

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OGIONIK wrote:

SCREW DEATH, BACK UP COPY YOURSELF TODAY!

It would be a separate individual...not "you" at all.

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In a round about way wasn't that the theme of Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"? Worth a read.

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dlowan wrote:

OGIONIK wrote:
SCREW DEATH, BACK UP COPY YOURSELF TODAY!

It would be a separate individual...not "you" at all.

Correct! an identical twin.

With all the legal and human rights of an identical twin and also the legal and human rights of a/your child. You created this person, you are responsible for this persons welfare (lets say) for 18 years.

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dadpad wrote:

edgarblythe wrote:
If they do it right, it's just another way to have babies. No big deal, really.

You are a man edgar, think about it.

No more sex!

Yep. I'm a man. I would still need sex, as would a woman. It's one of those perks people will never surrender.

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One thing that concerns me is that each human couple (due to the limitations of the woman) have the capacity to create maybe 15-20 people in their approximate image, no matter how well resourced they are.

With cloning, a really powerful person may produce millions of exact genetic replicas, which leads to heaps of possible problems for humanity, not the least of which is the likelyihood of incest.

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I think considering this as 'another baby' is a bit simplistic really. There are far more repercussions. Take for instance forensics... Who is to blame for a committed crime, if all there is is DNA?
Next, hereditary issues. How do clones compare to 'real 'children? Do they have the same rights? More rights? Less rights?
At what age would cloning be legal? Can a baby be cloned if you want twins or triplets? Can a toddler be cloned? Can a highschool kid decide (s)he wants a clone of his/herself?
What will happen when the parents die and the next of kin, for religious reasons or other reasons, will accept legal children but not 'clones'?
One parent families... Are these healthy? Not just single mom, but single dad too...
Is a death penalty truly a death penalty if clones exist? If a person who turns out to be a sociopath (for one reason or another) has clones, are these clones suspect now too?
Can clones get legal children? And if they can, If a woman has intercourse with a man and his clones, how can she tell who is the father?

And even more issues will arise if society will deem it acceptable to genetically 'alter' clones for one reason or another.

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najmelliw wrote:

I think considering this as 'another baby' is a bit simplistic really. There are far more repercussions. Take for instance forensics... Who is to blame for a committed crime, if all there is is DNA?

How is this any different from the current situation with identical twins? Get a grip.

najmelliw wrote:

Next, hereditary issues. How do clones compare to 'real 'children? Do they have the same rights? More rights? Less rights?
At what age would cloning be legal? Can a baby be cloned if you want twins or triplets? Can a toddler be cloned? Can a highschool kid decide (s)he wants a clone of his/herself?
What will happen when the parents die and the next of kin, for religious reasons or other reasons, will accept legal children but not 'clones'?
One parent families... Are these healthy? Not just single mom, but single dad too...
Is a death penalty truly a death penalty if clones exist? If a person who turns out to be a sociopath (for one reason or another) has clones, are these clones suspect now too?
Can clones get legal children? And if they can, If a woman has intercourse with a man and his clones, how can she tell who is the father?

And even more issues will arise if society will deem it acceptable to genetically 'alter' clones for one reason or another.

Just about all of these can be addressed by treating clones as human babies, with the rights of human babies.

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Noddy24 wrote:

What happens to your imperfect discards while you're experimenting.

That is an excellent question.

At what point could you "abort" a baby growing in vitro?

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DrewDad wrote:

najmelliw wrote:
I think considering this as 'another baby' is a bit simplistic really. There are far more repercussions. Take for instance forensics... Who is to blame for a committed crime, if all there is is DNA?

How is this any different from the current situation with identical twins? Get a grip.

Identical twins have different fingerprints. A clone would have the exact
same.

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I would like to see far more cloning of body parts/organs such as kidneys, livers, lungs etc. I don't see much (if any) value in cloning total persons.

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If the work of a child genius would be helpful to all of humankind, why not clone him and hope for another 'good' genius.

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DrewDad wrote:

najmelliw wrote:
I think considering this as 'another baby' is a bit simplistic really. There are far more repercussions. Take for instance forensics... Who is to blame for a committed crime, if all there is is DNA?

How is this any different from the current situation with identical twins? Get a grip.

najmelliw wrote:
Next, hereditary issues. How do clones compare to 'real 'children? Do they have the same rights? More rights? Less rights?
At what age would cloning be legal? Can a baby be cloned if you want twins or triplets? Can a toddler be cloned? Can a highschool kid decide (s)he wants a clone of his/herself?
What will happen when the parents die and the next of kin, for religious reasons or other reasons, will accept legal children but not 'clones'?
One parent families... Are these healthy? Not just single mom, but single dad too...
Is a death penalty truly a death penalty if clones exist? If a person who turns out to be a sociopath (for one reason or another) has clones, are these clones suspect now too?
Can clones get legal children? And if they can, If a woman has intercourse with a man and his clones, how can she tell who is the father?

And even more issues will arise if society will deem it acceptable to genetically 'alter' clones for one reason or another.

Just about all of these can be addressed by treating clones as human babies, with the rights of human babies.

Excellent. I'll be sure to get a grip. Now, I am aware of the forensic difficulties with DNA from identical twins, but, with clones around, those problems multiply. Especially if someone with enough money and a fetish decided to make 100 clones of himself.
While treating them as human babies may be fine, the question remains.. Are they? And should the clone be marked as such, in a passport? You have markdedly little problem stepping over such little obstacles as human bias and prejudice. Now, I'm sure you are a fully enlightened and rational person, but I'm quite sure that there are some people on this globe who don't meet those exacting standards, and I for one would not like to see people discriminated or abused for no other reason then how they were born... be they white, black, yellow or cloned.

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CalamityJane wrote:

DrewDad wrote:
najmelliw wrote:
I think considering this as 'another baby' is a bit simplistic really. There are far more repercussions. Take for instance forensics... Who is to blame for a committed crime, if all there is is DNA?

How is this any different from the current situation with identical twins? Get a grip.

Identical twins have different fingerprints. A clone would have the exact
same.

A clone would have identical DNA just like identical twins do.

I don't think a clone would necessarily have the same fingerprints, retinal patterns, etc.

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Is there anything ethically wrong with cloning humans?

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