“Oh my God, what have we done?” This is not a question that one might want to hear but in light of the crossroads where science, medicine and technology are it may very well be a question posed to society as a whole in the not-too distant future. The idea of “human engineering” scares me, I am apprehensive at best. It should scare everyone else too. The implications are unfathomable. From the useful ability to grow new organs for transplant or to eradicate genetic diseases to the possibility of cloning an entire human the possibilities are great and terrible at once.
These technologies have already been in use and under scrutiny for some time. In 1996 the sheep, Dolly, was born – a clone of another sheep. It was an amazing feat of science. She lived to be six years old and died in 2003. According to online research the average life expectancy for a sheep is approximately 10 years. Was Dolly’s death a harbinger of the state of cloned living animals?
Ethically there are myriad questions to be addressed when considering the cloning of animals and that number increases by an exponent of, say infinity, when one begins to talk of cloning an entire human. The movie “Multiplicity” (1996) comes to mind. In the movie, Michael Keaton’s Character has three clones of himself so that he can accomplish more tasks in a day. One clone is a masculine representation of himself, another feminine and the third is, for all intents and purposes, developmentally disabled. In this movie adaptation of science the cloning process was somewhat likened to dubbing a cassette tape. Each copy is slightly different from the original and the quality deteriorates over time. Of course, this is only a Hollywood interpretation of the real thing but if Dolly’s shortened lifespan is any indication it may be, at least mildly, rooted in fact.
So, is cloning a human, or any animal for that matter, unethical and a slight against God or is it just using the talents and knowledge that were given by Him to increase our time on earth? Human cloning aside, there are some interesting prospects. Consider animal cruelty; if instead of raising naturally born livestock for slaughter what if farmers raised cloned livestock? Would the meat from these animals be less offensive to vegetarians and PETA? It is possible but then there will surely be groups formed to protect the rights of clones.
What about human cloning and the aforementioned “human engineering”? The possibilities are limitless for life expectancy, quality of life and overall well-being. Is this a time to incorporate Fletcher’s “situation ethics”? Well, if we begin cloning humans that will certainly be a situation to say the least. It is, after all, ethical to do whatever is necessary to preserve the quality of life for an individual who has a strong chance of recovery to his or her former state so, by that thought, cloning body parts for transplant is quite ethical. But what about cloning an entire human being? The movie “The Island” found its main characters fleeing the facility where they lived only to find that they are clones of naturally born humans. These clones were designed to act as organ farms in the event of an accident or illness.
While reading about heart transplant in the text I thought about the heart. “Follow your heart.” “the heart knows what the heart wants” and “a broken heart” are all expressions used in modern American society and have been used for centuries. If I have a heart transplant will I still be able to listen to my heart even though it is someone else’s? A clone of my own heart, on the other hand, is still me. Where is this ethical line? Many people, and probably most people in need, would agree that cloning body parts or growing them in a lab in some other way is ethical and a great leap forward in medical science. Those same people would probably frown upon cloning an entire human.
I’m not saying that I agree with whole human cloning, genetic manipulation of embryos or having human ears growing on the backs of lab rats but it is possible that these things have their place; at least the latter of the two. The believers among us would agree that God, or at least some higher being, created man and gave him a soul. Would a clone created in a lab be granted the same right to a soul? The soul is not a tangible item that can be bought and sold for installation so I’d dare say that clones would not have one but this is a question that most people need not worry with. Very, very few people are in a position to influence these scientific decisions and I’m content to let the ethical burden of creation lie with them. When they ask what they’ve done I’ll be able to stand with a clean conscience say “I told you so”.
Why do we have this yearning to play God? We cant just ket things be.
Human cloning is like the whole Frankenstein thing come to life and cloned animals would be just as bad as farmed fish. Either way, the effects of cloning would eventually go sideways, as most unnatural experiments do. We f**k with nature, WE reap the consequences in the end in one way or another.
Have we not learned anything from the disasterous oil spill in the Gulf (and many other examples where screwing with the earth/nature) put humans and wildlife at risk? The earth has preserved the oil underground for millions of years for a reason. Not for the sheer pleasure of allowing us to find later.
We, as humans, do have the task of being stewards of the Earth. We also have been given the ability to reason and make alterations to our environment. Cloning humans is bad news, in my opinion, but if we can grow body parts to help heal the ill then why not?
Hi Dan,
Another thought-provoking and insightful post. Yes, where does one stop. I remember a movie with Rebecca Romijn and Greg Kinnear, where they cloned their dead son. The child was exactly like his deceased brother but there was something different about him. I agree with you about growing body parts for healing, but growing an entire human is a different situation.
Dave – Yes, I just can’t make it okay in my mind to clone an entire human. On facebook someone commented regarding the cloning of a human and likened it to in vitro fertilization. There are some similarities but at least with in vitro you are taking a sperm and an egg to make a new baby, not an exact copy of an already living human.
Nope, cloning a human is bad, bad news in my opinion.
Thanks for commenting. I truly appreciate it.