From: JMS (transtigger@aol.com)
Date: Wed May 01 2002 - 04:18:48 MDT
[quote from: edmund@arclightentertainment.co.uk on 2002-05-01 at 03:31:22]
Agreed, but I am interested in peoples' opinions on cloning. I for one
wholehartedly support cloning of additional organs grown for the purpose
of transplantation - it would end anti-regection drug dependancy, and save
hundreds of peoples lives, as well as remove the wait for donors.
[... I fail to find any social argument for allowing such proceedures for
the
average person.]
Two exceptions I'll defer on:
1. When conciousness can be transferred.
eg I die, I'm backed up, pls someone clone me a new body.
This is far too distant to be especially concerned about now.
2. If the individual has an exceptionally high IQ has, and could, serve
humanity more. eg Consider if we could have cloned Einstien, Planck, Mozart,
any number of history's recorded geniuses?
This is a forseeable benefit, as succesful cloning technology will present
itself long before genetic alteration to predispose such traits will.
What do people think? I'd be interested to hear other viewpoints on this.
It depends on your attitude to the Nature/Nurture debate. A cloned Einstein
may have an increased potential to become another Einstein, but I suspect
the
clone would have to have the same life experience to get anywhere close.
You could download an uploaded Einstein intelligence - but why would you
want
to? It may as well be kept as an AI Expert system. It would be less
vulnerable
and more functional.
I think cloning research is essential, as it increases our technical
capabilities and our understanding of how humankind functions, and thus what
can be done to modify the species should we need to do so. But I suspect it
won't be possible to clone instant intelligence; partly down to
nature/nurture
argument and partly that the idea of what constitutes intelligence is still
evolving.
On the first point, when I die, and if my consciousness can be transfered,
I'd
want a far better body please, not just a clone of this one.. :)
J.
---- This message was posted by JMS to the Extropians 2002 board on ExI BBS. <http://www.extropy.org/bbs/index.php?board=61;action=display;threadid=51658 >
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