From: Jim Whitehead (ejw@cse.ucsc.edu)
Date: Wed Sep 27 2000 - 18:06:34 PDT
> Anybody here *actually* think cloning (not for use as parts, just as an
> alternative reproductive mechanism) is a bad idea?
Well, with so many people on this planet unable to real their full potential
due to lack of access to resources, it seems like a bad idea to start
blowing $100-$200k per cloned baby. These resources seem like they would be
better spent on, say, educating the people already alive.
In a world where resources weren't an issue (as an academic I'm allowed to
say this), cloning in and of itself doesn't seem like a bad idea, so long as
sufficient genetic diversity were maintained in the overall population (and
assuming that it wasn't possible to create such diversity on demand through
gene manipulation techniques).
I personally would like to see a human being created through the assembly of
individual molecules, and thus get at the heart of this whole divine
creation of life argument. Thus cloning people for research is OK, but
performing it wholesale is a poor resource allocation.
- Jim
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