threeplusfire | just because you can, doesn't mean you always should

just because you can, doesn't mean you always should

The story about Clonaid and the claim of the first clone birth are all over the wires this morning. Didn't we all read enough science fiction stories to know that cloning never ends in happiness? I read "Nine Lives" again yesterday, and it is still a chilling thought.

It's a strange day when I can't even retreat into my sci-fi collection for respite from the world. Back to the wizards I suppose. Even if they do keep me up til odd hours before dawn, whispering.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well... technically speaking... the species stopped evolving a long time ago. Any time the sick, the weak, the incompetent are not only preserved but enabled to breed the species has stopped evolving. At least according to some.

I've heard that idea before, and I do think it is an important thing to consider. How is humanity changing because so many people who might have died before now live? What are the repercussions? Serious questions.

At the same time I don't want to be a part of a culture that "exposes" unwanted or unfit children.

I don't think we should ever stop researching, exploring, learning but we should have the ethics to realize that doing something just because we can is not the wisest thing. And I certainly don't think the bunch of folks that are claiming this advance would recognize ethics even if it came down in a spaceship and probed them all night long.

Such discussions are very tricky. One has to be sure that other people know where one is coming from, so there won't be any accusations of eugenics and suchlike. Some people tend to overreact when the topic is broached, as if mere discussion means one wants to kill children. It's one of the reasons I so rarely talk politics, as I tend to want to discuss very sticky grey issues and some of my friends do not react well.

Ahh. Ethics. A rare and precious commodity in this world, to be sure. Of all the sects to do something to change the world, I surely would not have picked them.

Truly, emotions run high on the subject.

Of all the sects to do something to change the world, I surely would not have picked them.

Unfortunately, radicals change the world all the time and not neccessarily for the better.

It's almost as bad as discussing the question of Israel and Palestine. So, so very politicized.

Well, of course the radicals are always the ones to hare off and do the unexpected. But for something like this, I just want someone with better style. When I dreamed of my sci-fi future as a child, it was always so beautiful and strange. No men with puffy white sleeves. ;)

Or women scientists with bad accents and worse make-up.

She is a character, no doubt. I saw some British tabloid report that went on and on about her "tight all black clothes" and how the Raelians were really just a sex cult. :P

If it was just a sex cult I'd have no objections. What they do in their own time is their own business.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

just because you can, doesn't mean you always should

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