From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Fri Aug 17 2001 - 08:13:45 MDT
From: "Wei Dai" <weidai@eskimo.com>
> I don't think DNA can be copyrighted, so this particular way to prevent
> oneself from being cloned probably wouldn't work. The story also mentions
> that US courts have ruled against turning someone into a parent without
> his or her consent
Correction, US courts have ruled against turning someone into a parent without
her consent, but in the case of his consent, US courts have not ruled against
it, and men have indeed been turned into parents without their consent.
> so copyright protection isn't really necessary. But
> this wouldn't prevent large-scale cloning of celebrities, since you
> can create one illegal clone, get his consent, and then all subsequent
> clones will be legal.
Not according to US law, where otherwise lawful acts, dependent upon unlawful
acts, thereby become unlawful.
> (It does cause an 18-year delay though, or however
> many years until the illegal clone reaches age of consent.)
By that time the evolutionary phase transition will have rendered organic
carbon units obsolete, and biology will have transcended organic chemistry. As
a consequence, cloning will have become a moot issue.
> I wonder if we might see anti-cloning technology that actually would work.
Such technology already exists. It's called abortion.
> For example a genetically engineered self-destruct mechanism that causes
> a cell's DNA to be wiped as soon as it is detached from the body. How
> feasible would this be?
This would involve some type of sub-micro or nano sensing device which could
detect the cells' detachment from other cells. Living cells do respond to the
cells around them, which indicates some kind of mechanism for detecting (if
not actually sensing) the integrity of multicellular structure already
operates in biological systems. A retro-virus (or possibly a prion targeting
nucleic acid) which is activated upon detachment from surrounding cells, and
which is included in each and every cell of the body, could accomplish the DNA
destruction that you imagine. This technology might have the negative
epiphenomenon of making the subject unable to undergo organ transplant
surgery.
--J. R.
Useless hypotheses, etc.:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza, and ego.
Everything that can happen has already happened, not just once,
but an infinite number of times, and will continue to do so forever.
(Everything that can happen = more than anyone can imagine.)
We won't move into a better future until we debunk religiosity, the most
regressive force now operating in society.
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