Thoughts on cloning

Ok i've just been watching o program about what cloning could be like in the future, how it will be possible to not only clone complete bodies, but also transfer ones conciousness into them.
Now assuming we don't blow ourselves up, get taken over by aliens or any other nasty misfourtune, i can see how these things will be possible at some point.
So my point here is, i'm wondering what everyone thinks of the prospect of this? Would you want to have the ability to live forever, simply exchanging your old body for a new one when it suited you.
Personally i hope i'm around to see this, as of all the possibilities that this would open up. You could stay as a teenager for a couple of centuries, or experience old age, without the worry that soon it would be over. Not to mention all the wonders of the universe you would get to see unfold.
So what does everyone else think?

I look forward to this as intresting times as well.

Of course there will be a lot of necessary analyzing of our beliefs:

1. With old age defeated and the prospect of living indefinetly undesirable to some, society will have to change its views on death and suicide. Those who refuse new bodies and those who grow weary of living after centuries will essentially be committing suicide by choosing not to extend their lives. This will take some getting used to. Although choosing when you are ready to die seems like a basic right of a conscious being, it certainly isn't thought as such today. Still, taboos are always outgrown with time.
(An intresting view on this general topic can be found in the final story of the the book History of the World in 10&1/2 Chapters by Julian Barnes. It is fiction(don't be fooled by the title). And the whole book is a good read.)

2. If the ability to move the consciousness into other bodies becomes available then this will require major readjustment by society. Basic things like our defined sex roles, social roles, etc.
I for one would be interested to spend awhile with a female body. Many others would too, I'm sure, and how many people today could handle the idea that the person they're making love to was born the opposite sex and then moved their spirit to the other gender?
Race would become meaningless because I could be a "white person" inhabiting a "black body" or a "middle-eastern body".

3. How expensive would changing bodies be? Would people do it for fun? Would all races be available? Would new races be created? (blending of all the "best" racial traits for the perfect race?) Who would decide?

How we allow ourselves to be governed and by who will have a huge impact on whether this technology is misused - whether it becomes an advancement for the species or the ultimate means of control and slavery.
Are the people in power right now engaged in behaviour which is advancing the species?



[Edited on 20-7-2003 by quango]

there are some huge moral issues with the concept of cloning. What about the right of the clone to life? Say you clone your body so that when your original body becomes too old and disabled to function you can transfer your consciousness over - what happens to the 'soul' of the clone? Even more so if you are preparing to take over the clone of another individual.

A clone would not simply be a collection of cells - it would have a mind, a consciousness of it's own. I know with my pro-choice leanings it will seem odd for me to defend something like this, but it just screams Body Snatchers at me

I agree with all of you... the possibilities would be exciting but does the clone have a soul and if so would you want to erase his soul/thoughts and replace them by your own. I for one could not.

There are a lot of theoretical problems with cloning. Anyone seen the movie "the sixth day" with Arnold Schwarzenegger? A cloning company could do/manipulate the body (clone) to their needs/desires (insertion of viruses, disabilities, tracking devices).

There is also the suggested problem of infertility from too much cloning... (cells become too unstable for normal reproduction to work).

What i'm a lot more interested in is the research into the human genome that controls celular decay...
Basically it boils down to halting celular decay and thus prolonging life (the body doesn't age).

This combined with gene therapy could halt the aging process at the moment when you want it to stop (i.e. take a pill to stop aging).

There are too many questions involved in cloning... and it's dangerous (or so it seems). Once we the human race know everything about the genome sequences that build the diverse forms of life on this planet we will be able to create whatever form of life we like.

Let's pray that this technique will not be comercialised and leads to a scientific, creative and peacefull future...

Peace,

Freeze

Will cloning is the black magic of the 2100th century?

Only if the scientists will be able to do what they consider.

The transferring of a soul from one body to another - thats very very black magic if you are not.... well - a saint.
But i doubt very much that they will ever be able to do this.

Sounds to me alittle like the Artificial Intelligence hoax.

with AI they will propably never be able to link a soul directly with a computer "mind". they simply dont know what they are dealing with. The human being is so complex that they at this stage only can simulate the gros mind with a very limited level of self-learning.

the gros mind is the most easy part to imitate.

In a computer its just a transistor. lots of them. but nothing else.

The problem with gene manipulation is that the studies are only directed at "how-to-do?" not "what-is-this?".

The issue of the A-bomb might, in comparison, be like a kid playing with matches.



I can tell you guys that to make a clone of a human being without control of the soul imput, would make a gate for astral entities to manifest through this being.

This astral beings would like this alot and would quite propably be of the more nasty nature.

serial-killers ? you bet....

Some good points, however at some point in our future problems with cell decay etc, will be overcome with ease.
As for the issues with soul, surely to develop one, you need an upbringing and enviroment? If a body is mearly grown from a single cell to full size in a matter of hours (yes very sci-fi) then how could it develop a soul or mind? Or even if these did happen, well if you created this thing why should you not have the right to purge it clean? Surely it's the same as having an abortion because you no longer wish to have a child?