From: Michael M. Butler (butler@comp-lib.org)
Date: Tue Aug 14 2001 - 01:32:05 MDT
Apologies for the cute twists and turns in this post, but not for the content :)...
> >Well, monkey business it clearly is (I think this goes in the Creative
> >Tautology bag), and it is funny, in the classic pathetic humor style. Yes, it
> >will all sort itself out with time, and most of the folks that are getting
> >"up" about this have no clue about the truly promethean impact of the things
> >we see coming in the next 20 years. Galileo knew the solar system would keep
> >turning even if he recanted, and that there was no way to stop people from
> >knowing about it, eventually. There is no way to stop people from finding out
> >that cells are machines, and although complex, are just patterns of atoms that
> >have self propagation 'potential'. However, for this to be generally
** Mike's Good Offlist Buddy, Dr. Von Namewithheld from Pine Barren, New Jersey, writes:
> Well said. Hopefully the realization that 'cells are machines' will
> dawn on humanity without major conflicts. See, I'm afraid of war.
I'm, as you know, resigned that _some_ warring will take place.
Might be "'Good'-[in the form of strange coalitions]-vs-'Good&EvilAtTheSameTime'", as I have called it.
G-vs-GEST for short. IOW: Those who (think they) know what's best for everybody versus those who don't.
The creepy part is I still don't know which side I'll be on.
> A question: would a cloned human be the modern day equivalent of a bastard?
Or the modern-day Nigger, Kike or other sub (/non) human. Our own very special--"don't care what color you are, don't
let the sun set on your ass in _our_ town, 'Dolly'!"--contribution to "genetic purity" in the romantic-naturalist (is
there a better word?) regime.
I think 'Dollies' is a good placeholder for whatever new pejorative shows up for genespliced sub/nonhumans.
* Special to Offlist Buddy: You did read the Siamese twin + chimera posts from Broderick and others, didn't you?
"Don't talk of guns and roses, or should we powder our noses; don't dwell on last year's capers; give me steel give me
steel, give me pulses unreal. He'll save yer saviour sure! Hear me, I'm graphically yours. Someone to claim us, someone
to follow, someone to shame us, some brave Apollo! Someone to fool (us) Somebody like you, We _want_ you, Big Brother.
Big Brother..." [lyrics by David Bowie, emphasis and any mondegreens by your ob't sv't]
Phew.
> Would the cloned have rights, or would they be suspended? (same
> fingerprint and much else from the DNA donor---creates problemos).
>
> Another concern I have is that the next generation or so of humans
> might have a lot of resentment towards us older folks. Seems to me a
> lot of the technology in question is transhuman in some respects,
> and---clones or no clones---the upcoming generation might resent us
> for making them our big experiment.
BINGO. Have I sent you a pointer to my thread on Nanodot regarding Kids-as-chattel and the possibility that manipulation
of kids/unborns is inherently unethical past, fixing _deeply_ wrong things. How do you get informed consent for
adaptations to permit "mutants", so to speak, to walk the Earth?
I have expressed other concerns as well, there, as you can read.
If I haven't sent you the URL for that, TELL ME. I can't access the site at the moment or I'd include a link here.
To hook in to salient parts of the thread, try to search www.nanodot.org for (a) post(s) from me (account name "butler")
containing the phrases "children as chattel" or "I expect to be pilloried".
There are opportunities for "sickness wit' a quickness" here, like having sex with Marilyn Monroe's corpse... Hey, _I
didn't kill her, she was that way after the bus hit her, you dig, but what a waste to not go for all the gusto you CAN,
right? I feel a George Carlin urge coming on.
I have another buddy who says the subtext of SpielbergKubrick's _A.I._ includes "sex with kid robots" as a gimme.
OMGIJT: "Who will love you no matter what...."
And--Oh my god, I just thought--"Is this a game?" Wow.
Woah. He's right. It's a REAL SHORT STROLL down a Teflon slope. For some people. Who are single ply thinkers. "I have a
right to own property." "I have needs, and I'M NOT HURTING ANYONE." "Don't Tread On Me." "I never signed no fucking
Social Contract."
Gah. Methinks I'm turning into an old biddy. I _am_ glad I missed that. Maybe I should go attend Promise Keepers.
* Special to Offlist Buddy: "Children of the Atom"--ever hear of/read that one?
> As we crank out genetically
> modified kids, how will we regard them? Will we poke and prod them
> like Dolly, learn and recast them in successive experiments? Will
> they already feel less-than-human merely by our treatment of them?
"This is for your own good." +
"We'll always know _you_... You'll have the 'Mark 'o Cain' fix JUST LIKE ALL YOUR SNOT-NOSED PEERS, AND YOU'LL LIKE IT,
goddamn it, now clean your plate, young man." +
"We sacrifice EVERYTHING to get you an appointment to West Point and THIS is the thanks we get?"
Un-Fuck. And the beat goes on. This has major mythological clout. Phew.
> Big questions for a Monday afternoon at the office.
Umm yeahr. Big questions for a lazy hazy brain like mine, anytime.
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