Fetus in a tube¹

So the age of human cloning has begun… A scientist clones himself.

And, as expected, a moral battle has ensued. Its important to understand exactly what is at issue. We are not dealing with the actual birth of any clones - the idea is to use cloning as a means to obtain stem cells for patients suffering from Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, transplant patients, diabetes sufferers, and many others. It isn’t The 6th Day or The Island people; the embryos only live several days.

But some people panic (surprise!). They think that this akin to breeding for spare parts, playing god, genetic engineering, or a small step towards much more serious experimentation. Richard Doerflinger, a representative of the Catholic Church says,

It does not answer the ethical or social questions about the mass-production of developing human lives in order to destroy them. . . . It only tells us that these questions are more urgent than ever.²

Fortunately for Doerflinger, most science does not make ethical arguments. Nonetheless, nobody is ‘developing human lives in order to destroy them’ - except maybe god.

We are attempting to develop pre-human lives, in order to save actual lives and benefit those around them. Where did this ludicrous idea of associating mysticism to the moment of conception come from anyway? If it wasn’t for the sciences of biology and anatomy, Doerflinger might accuse people of ethical malpractice for building mud sculptures. As far as religious texts are concerned, God is ignorant of fetal development.

And yet, there is something odd about this cloning business isn’t there? Though somehow I doubt it has anything to do with ‘killing’ anything worthy of our moral consideration. Maybe Hollywood did it to us; maybe it’s the danger of a black market; or maybe our prehistoric ego’s can’t accept the fact that each one of us is just a natural, duplicable, machine.

Or what do I know? Maybe there is a divine plan behind rape pregnancies, miscarriages, deformed children, and conjoint twins. But if that’s intelligent design, I’m proud to be a moron.

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1. Creative Commons http://www.flickr.com/photos/thaumata/317263639/ [↩]
2. Mature Human Embryos Created From Adult Skin Cells. Washington Post. 18 January 2008. [↩]