Pandora’s Box and the Everlasting Quest to Immortality
It was Carl Sagan in his 1998 book, Billions & Billons: Thoughts of Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium, which moved audiences with powerful words of wisdom and quotes that stained memories with each page. Sagan announced, “I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking.” (Sagan, 1998). His wish is among millions; Arguably one of the world’s everlasting wishes to be able to master immortality and live forever. One can only wonder if Carl Sagan knew about human cloning when he wrote this novel. Over 46 countries, 23% of the world, have illegalized some kind of embryo research and/or human reproductive cloning (Matthews, 2007). While one can imagine the different reasons as to why, an expanded mindset can simultaneously wonder why not. Due to the different elements of our modern world now, there are many valid arguments for and against cloning—and they all deserve to be analyzed thoroughly.
Human cloning is the creation of an identical entity of an existing being through means of copying DNA and or cloned tissue (Science Daily.) Reproductive cloning being something familiar to the nation for a little more than a century, was first introduced by
Defining Cloning. Depending upon the use of the word ‘clone’, or any technical term related to the word, there are a vast number of meanings, but many scientists have agreed upon one, broad definition. “Cloning is the process of creating a cell, tissue line, or even a complete organism from the cell,” (Maienschein 423).
Human reproductive cloning is a type of cloning that involves somatic cell nuclear transfer and the embryo duplicates the genome of solely one parent, a type of asexual reproduction that is foreign to the human species. This form of reproduction differs from normal sexual reproduction where the baby duplicates genomes of both parents (Hayry 2003). Despite popular beliefs that view reproductive cloning as a carbon copy of human beings, in actuality it creates a genetically and physically identical twin of its progenitor but socially and psychologically it reproduces an unique human being (Morales 2009).
For years and years the practice of trying to raise and breed the best type of stock or plants possible. For example, the ancient Egyptians have spent years and years trying to breed the best type of Arabian breed horses that could handle the heat and go without water for large amounts of time. All the while having the speed and stamina to accomplish whatever they desired. Also the modern day farmer trying to plant a type of corn that can withstand many different weather conditions and still produce many ears of corn from a single stalk. So as time has showed we have tried and tried to accomplish the goal of better our livestock and plants to get ahead in society. That’s were cloning comes in. According to some, cloning has the chance to
Cloning is “the creation of exact copies of a gene, cell, or entire organism” (“Cloning”). Many objects can be cloned such as plants and cells. The topic of cloning becomes controversial when the focus is toward humans. It is evident that cloning of other species and organisms is possible. Because of this, the thought of human cloning has arisen in the science community within the previous few centuries. According to a poll produced by Time Magazine, ninety-three percent of American’s are opposed to human cloning (“Human Cloning”). This proves that the advancement of this topic has developed far beyond our wisdom. If nearly one hundred percent of the population disagrees with even the idea of this experiment, it is evident that they are unaware of the ways in which this technology has advanced. Furthermore, this unpredictable outcome of cloning will be irreversible. “Whatever effects cloning might have, cloning would be like opening Pandora’s Box, because there would be no way to turn back once the technology was developed and in use” (“Human Cloning”). As has been noted, the science of human cloning is not yet understood therefore it has advanced far too quickly for society to
Cloning is a number of processes that are used to create genetically identical copies of an organism. Researchers have cloned a number of biological materials, such as genes, cells, tissues and whole organisms, including sheep 's and horses. Cloning can happen naturally in identical twins, but it can also be done in a lab. ("Cloning Fact Sheet").
Human cloning involves removing the nucleus of a human egg and replacing it with the nucleus of an existing person (Glannon, p. 89). It is the genetic duplication of an existing person (CGS). Identical twins are a naturally occurring cloning (Science Daily). Several countries worldwide have bans on human cloning (Kilner). The U.S. government has cut funding for cloning research (Kilner). Arguments in favor of human cloning point out the benefits of advancing technology, while those against question the effect it has on human dignity and even the clone itself.
Cloning is a biological process of making genetically copy it would be copy of a single cell or whole animal. The first mammal cloned Dolly the sheep. There are three types of cloning: they are (1) the recombinant DNA technology or DNA cloning or gene cloning, (2) reproductive cloning, and (3) the therapeutic cloning.
Cloning in its simplest definition is an creating an exact copy of a biological entity, meaning that if the
Cloning is defined as the “creation of an exact copy of a living matter, such as a cell or organism” according to Encarta encyclopedia. The copies produced through cloning have identical genetic makeup and are known as clones. Scientists use cloning techniques in the laboratory to create copies of cells or organisms with valuable traits.
Science today is developing at warp speed. We have the capability to do many things, which include the cloning of actual humans! First you may ask what a clone is? A clone is a group of cells or organisms, which are genetically identical, and have all been produced from the same original cell. There are three main types of cloning, two of which aim to produce live cloned offspring and one, which simply aims to produce stem cells and then human organs. These three are: reproductive cloning, embryo cloning and therapeutic cloning. The goal of therapeutic cloning is to produce a healthy copy of a sick person's tissue or organ for transplant, and the goal of both reproductive cloning and embryo cloning is to
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a second you? The process of cloning is something that is not necessarily very new but is something that is constantly being researched and improved. Most commonly in cloning the somatic cell nuclear transfer method is used.This is when you take a somatic cell(any cell other than the sex cells) from the person being cloned and a donor egg cell and extract the nucleus from the donor egg cell replacing it with the nucleus from the somatic cell. This fuses the donor egg and somatic cell together and next is placed in a surrogate organism that gives birth to that cell that was created. That is the process of cloning an organism. The world of cloning is new and mysterious but is something that could very
Before the ethics of human cloning can be discussed, the mechanics of cloning must be understood first. Cloning is the process of making an exact genetic copy of an organism by a method called nuclear transplantation which is a process of removing a nucleus (the center of a cell which contains all of the biological information)
When I looked up the definition for cloning on www.m-w .com it stated that cloning is to propagate a clone from or to make a copy of. A book on cloning that I read stated that cloning is genetically identical cells. Cloning’s history is as early as 1952 and the first cell transferring was in 1970. The cell process was not 100 percent accurate every time. Back in the 1970’s many scientists struggled with trying to clone something and it
"See you in two years with your cloned child," says the doctor to his patient. Such a statement sounds so bizarre and futuristic, but scientists believe cloning "is no longer the realm of science fiction" (Virginia, Sirs). Its "just a matter of time before the first cloned [humans]" (Virginia, Sirs). Although this practice does not seem dangerous, cloning should be banned because it takes away the individual importance of human beings, is too risky, and also morally wrong.
Clone: “Strictly speaking, cloning is the creation of a genetic copy of a sequence of DNA or of the entire genome of an organism.” In simple, easy to understand words, cloning is the process of making an exact replica of an organism. After doing a bit of research, the Stanford definition of the word clone stood out.