Thursday, 26 June 2008
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Clone your dog: Would God Approve Cloning?
by mr. oak
I ran into bestfriendsagain.com which is a website that offers to clone your dog to the highest bidder. Starting bids are at $100,000 and start July 5th. As a science guy, I was instantly intrigued by this - first of all, I think the technology and science behind cloning is amazing. As someone that has done genetic manipulation on developing mice in a lab, I fully understand how difficult it is to actually clone a full organism. It's an amazing feat.
Jokingly I IMed "GROMIT CAN LIVE FOREVER." to my wife a thousand times. This reminded me of the "repet" program featured in the movie "sixth day" which now pretty much lives on the tbs television network aka movie graveyard. The movie predicts that in the future, you can walk to your local mall and have your pet cloned instantly - fooling kids into thinking the dog never died in the first place. Seeing this, seems like we're not too far from that.But we all know because of experience or nurture, even a cloned dog will never be the same dog. You'll basically get all the same parts, but the personality is...well, up to you.
So here we are at the end - the ethics of it all. I've heard countless times people screaming about the ethics and how we're playing God - and then there's the flip side that we've been using science to extend people's lives cure genetic cancers etc...and this is just the next progressive step in science.
What do you think about cloning your family pet?
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Comments (31)
I really wouldn't clone anyone - animal or eventually, human. The reason for that is the world only has so many resources. It's already overpopulated and by cloning, we will inevitably be adding to the problem. As much as I completely adore and love my family pet, I wouldn't get cloning done on her if she passed away.
I must confess, I don't really have a problem with it.
I think cloning is like, giving something or someone another chance. But God gave you one life... he wanted you to make the most of it. All people make mistakes & God loves his children even when they do. So I guess in a way it's "messing with His plan." Idk I've always thought that cloning was a bit unethical because it's extremely risky, even with the technology nowadays.
Cloning = no no.
Not to mention you tested on mice. :(
That makes me sad.
Personally, I would kill anyone who tried to clone me. It's not like it's actually going to be me. The person would have their own thoughts and their own experiences, ergo they are NOT me, they are just in my body.
Body snatcher!
I think it should not be done.There should be a fine line between nature and science.The act of cloning in my opinion devalues the act of creation and puts a price tag on a life which is preety sad.
I did a huge research project on cloning and I would have to say that I think God would disaproove. Not only are we trying to create life but the female that gives her eggs puts herself in major danger. Most clones would only be able to live for a few years, anyways.
well, I don't know about the consequences to the living, but if there are none, and the cloned animal will live just as well as a naturally born one, I see no problem at all with it. it in no way devalues creation, obviously God made it possible. that is all.
@HeartOfPandora@xanga - Actually, genetically speaking, your clone would simply be your identical twin. Does that really qualify as "body snatching"?
I wouldn't clone my family pet, it just seems like it would be strange. There is only ONE of my specific pet or my brother or something.
@Demetrios_of_Phaleron@xanga - I would still feel like they stole my body... I was born an only child, I wanna die that way! >.< Heh, but it would be pretty kick-arse to wake up one morning and go OMGISTHATAMIRRORORHAVEIBEENCLONED?!
@HeartOfPandora@xanga - Okay, that's fair enough. Myself, I think the world needs as many of me as possible. :0P
@Demetrios_of_Phaleron@xanga - Lol, that makes me think of one major repercussion of there being multiple mes...I'm a bit crazy lol. I can't imagine 8 of me walking around, we'd destroy the town (and neighbouring towns as well)! Maybe it's not such a good idea if I get cloned...
I don't mind the concept of cloning. I guess it'd be up to the person but I would want a once-in-lifetime relationship with a pet and not try to relive it because it would feel so superficial.
there's a reason why things die, (why pet dies?).. it teaches us to move on and move forward. same goes to humans.. what if your dog wants to retire or he is really bored with his life and the only thing he wants is to rest, the only way is to die? then someone cloned him. the dog would probably say * crap here we go again! " lol
wild imagination hehe!
My point of view is that it is somewhat okay, because to truly play God you would have to find a way to clone a soul, which is impossible, and we do have this ability, though I think something so profoundly complicated should be used for more important uses other than making sure your child doesn't know that their beloved pet actually passed on. I think it's not a good idea to try and make a child believe that in the first place. Because they will need to understand what death is and how it is essential to all life.
That's right! the important question is "What does the dog think about it?" Until we can get a reliable answer from the woofer, I say no. And remember this...dog spelled backwards is....
I don't have a family pet to clone, so I can't really answer the question. But this reminds me of something I heard. Apparently, you can have your family members or pets cremated when they pass on and have those ashes turned into a diamond... It's not quite the same as cloning, but that's pretty creepy to me.
one good question is do you think animals have souls? if they were mere meat, then i guess it is not irreverant to clone them, if they do have souls, then cloning is playing God. that is the logic i would follow, if that makes sense.
we already do alot of "playing God" with plants/crops, and everyone seems ok with it. why? cuz we do not think of plants of more than just plant cells, so it does not seem irreverant. u know, all haas avocados are from one parent tree. they are all clones. yet no christian has a problem with that. neither does anyone have quams about special/pedigree breeding of pets. those activities do mean we control genes to a certain extent
so it comes down to where u draw the line
and i agree that creating a physical copy does not make it the same dog. its a twin/copy of the original, but it will never be the original
Don't clone the dog. I know you loved it and it died, but there are heaps of animals that are homeless and would love a chance for a happy life. Why clone a dog when you can get a homeless one for less than a hundred dollars? If anyone has a hundred thousand dollars available, let me know. I need the cash lol
As long as they grow up in the same environment, I think the personalities would be similar. Dogs aren't as obvious as humans.
I dunno...there was an episode of This American Life where a man cloned a bull named Chance that was like a member of the family. They called him Second Chance, and it tried twice to kill the man who owned him. I don't think it's black and white...like you said, the personality is up to you. It seems, though, that when things are replaceable, people don't take as good care of them as they would with something that was one-of-a-kind, so there are problems inherent in that aspect...
i think cloning is disgusting...
nobody should try to do only what God should do.
cutting out alot of words, cloning is not a bad thing but someone somewhere will try and use it for bad.
just because something offends a sense inside of us does not mean its all bad. you could run down a list of things here from flat earth to vitamin b but i wont
I think God would be like, "Why are you playing Me?? That's wrong. I will smite you."
Personally I find cloning unnatural and creepy. It's a matter of existentialism.
Nothing can replace the intrinsic you, not even a genetically identical being.
I don't really see a moral or ethical problem with cloning, itself. The new organism is simply an exact copy of its one parent, rather than a mish-mash of two parents. It's like having identical twins that are not born at the same time. Is there a moral or ethical problem with identical twins? No. Do we have any reason to believe a clone would not have a soul, or would not go to Heaven? No.
I only see a couple of problems with cloning of pets. One is the idea of excess and the spoiled nature of society. Couldn't that money, those resources, be better spent on, oh, say, preventing the spread of AIDS or malaria? $100,000 could buy a lot of vaccines, mosquito nets, etc... or adopt a lot of stray dogs!
My other problem is that cloning is essentially inbreeding and could lead to a decrease in genetic variation of breeds, and therefore more susceptibility to disease and, let's face it, lower intelligence.
I know you love Fido (or Gromit), but fact of the matter is, his clone won't be him. Have you ever met identical twins who had the exact same personality? I haven't. Even though they're genetically identical and were raised by the same parents, their personalities are different.