Repet is now a reality
28/12/04 17:37 Filed in: World
Cloning of dead pets, Sci-fi? No it's here now.
Only about 4 years after the film The Sixth Day came
out we have at least partially a real world Repet
service. Some woman in Texas, has had a clone made of
her dead cat. I first read this story on slashdot a few weeks
back, but what's bought it back to mind is an
editorial I read in a recent edition of the Daily
Mail (26/12 I think).
They where taking the moral high ground and saying it was wrong for all sorts of reasons. Now I happen to think it's wrong to but for completely different reasons. This woman (I've not got the paper now so I don't know here name), was saying that the pet would only be physically identical, it wouldn't be the same pet. We don't and probably never will have the technology shown in the Sixth Day to download the whole personality of a living being. Then I the next paragraph she starts saying that God made each living thing unique and gave them a soul. Er... didn't she just say that the clone only looked like the original and wasn't actually the same? At this point I lost interest in what she was saying, she was clearly just a religious, laudite type! Sorry, but that's the way I feel.
So why don't I think this is a good idea, because we are creating some sort of soulless, frankenstine monster pet, which is going to take over the world? No. I just think that this a waste of a very powerful technology which will have great befit for mankind, if it's allowed to be used. Trivial uses of this technology like this will only make turn more people against this and force it underground, where it WILL be abused.
The other reason why I think it is a bad idea is for the sanity of the poor woman that did this. The new cat is not your old cat, it never will be, it's just physically identical. When the clone dies what is she going to do clone it again? You can't keep on running from loss and grief. They are part of life. Treasure the memories she has, get a new cat, move on. I know form experience that it never works trying to re-create happy memories. Never go back, yes look back and member, but keep on moving forward.
They where taking the moral high ground and saying it was wrong for all sorts of reasons. Now I happen to think it's wrong to but for completely different reasons. This woman (I've not got the paper now so I don't know here name), was saying that the pet would only be physically identical, it wouldn't be the same pet. We don't and probably never will have the technology shown in the Sixth Day to download the whole personality of a living being. Then I the next paragraph she starts saying that God made each living thing unique and gave them a soul. Er... didn't she just say that the clone only looked like the original and wasn't actually the same? At this point I lost interest in what she was saying, she was clearly just a religious, laudite type! Sorry, but that's the way I feel.
So why don't I think this is a good idea, because we are creating some sort of soulless, frankenstine monster pet, which is going to take over the world? No. I just think that this a waste of a very powerful technology which will have great befit for mankind, if it's allowed to be used. Trivial uses of this technology like this will only make turn more people against this and force it underground, where it WILL be abused.
The other reason why I think it is a bad idea is for the sanity of the poor woman that did this. The new cat is not your old cat, it never will be, it's just physically identical. When the clone dies what is she going to do clone it again? You can't keep on running from loss and grief. They are part of life. Treasure the memories she has, get a new cat, move on. I know form experience that it never works trying to re-create happy memories. Never go back, yes look back and member, but keep on moving forward.
|