From: Anders Sandberg (nv91-asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Mon Feb 24 1997 - 11:37:06 MST
On Mon, 24 Feb 1997 Chris.Thompson@entex.com wrote:
> But what 'rights' do the clones have? Are they just more humans with
> individual rights? Does the prime being have dominion over the clones,
> and that perhaps a clone could have it's brain function
> limited/clipped during it's gestation in order to keep the organism
> purely a cell factory?
Depends on how you decide what will be given rights. Myself, I tend
towards the view that entities that demand or desire a right (which they
are presumed to understand) should be given it. Hence, if you clone
yourself the young clone-baby should be given all the rights that we give
ordinary babies (there is no practical distinction). If you create a
braindead donor-clone, it cannot demand or even desire rights, and it is
OK to use it as a cell factory.
Apropos cloning for transplants, I suggest reading Greg Egan's ironic
short story "The Extra":
http://www.midnight.com.au/eidolon/issue_02/02_extra.htm
> An interesting aside, although I rarely read comics anymore, I've been
> unable to totally sever my ties to the IRON MAN comic book. In a
> recent issue Tony Stark, Iron Man Himself, is trapped without his
> armor by an armored super assassin. He tells the guy "If you dont
> leave, I'm going to kill you. Look deep into my eyes and you'll know
> it's true." And when the assassin looks at him a bright flash blinds
> and dazes him. As Stark runs away he thinks to himself, "It's called a
> magnesium flare, nanoteched onto contact lenses, I originally
> developed them for riot control police."
Fun idea, I wonder how to prevent the flash from blinding the wearer and
hurting his eyes? Oops, it was a comic book - cartoon physics applies! ;-)
The idea might be doable without magnesium using nanotech lasers... maybe.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
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