Cloned Sheep

Chris.Thompson@entex.com
Mon, 24 Feb 1997 10:52:37 -0500

I've lurked on this list for some time, and unfortunately havent even
been able to read the digests for about 2 months. (Being responsible
for install of 5800 copies of netscape in 74 different branches about
country by a slew of people who dont want to help you can sap your
free time just a bit. :)

I read with great interest the story on ccn.com yesterday about the
scientists that have cloned a sheep.

Have we had a philosophical/ethical debate on Human cloning? (If we
have, I apologize, I've missed it)

The first thing that came to mind was "The Cat Who Walks Through
Walls" where your clones are held in stasis to provide 'spare-parts'.
Imagine cloning a baby at birth. Imagine cloning from a cell in one of
those heads frozen at alcor.

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?

An interesting debate surely.


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."

It's interesting to see where Extropic Ideas like nanotech end up in
mainstream media. Although I must admit, Iron Man tends to be rather
Extropic. He wears the armor chest plate to keep his heart beating
after it is damaged by shrapnel, he makes a list of books his
employees to read and it includes Toffler and Dawkins.

----------------------------
Chris Thompson
Internet Administrator
Entex Information Services
chris.thompson@entex.com
----------------------------