Is Cloning an Immoral and Dangerous form of science or the next step in Humanity's Ev

Is Cloning an Immoral and Dangerous form of science or the next step in Humanity's Evolution?

On the 5th of July 1996 Dolly the Lamb, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell, using a process know as Nuclear Transfer was born. With this new concept it brought much controversies on the dangers and problems of cloning, with many concerns of the countless errors before creating the "perfect" clone. In the case of Dolly the lamb, she was the only one out of 227 trials. Thus, for one Dolly, hundreds of lambs with abnormalities including mutation and ******ation were produced.

On the other hand, one of the main advantages of cloning brought to light is that the organs that can be created for people in need of various transplants. For example, scientists see organs of pig clones as being suitable for humans as well as cloned organs easily being able to replace organs without being rejected by the body's immune system.

Now, it is up to you to decide which side is more appropriate for you, and yes the middle road is available for you. Is Cloning an Immoral and Dangerous form of science or the next step in humanity's evolution?

I think it harbours fantastic opportunities which we in a world that is increasingly more aware of our lack of renewability ought to invest more into. There are obvious advancements in medicine with lab-grown tissues, organs, and who knows possibly even full humans, but aside from that is the fantastic opportunity of "artificial" meats for consumption and plantlife for consumption AND oxygen farming. Genetic research can also aid in the eradication of congenital abnormalities and with the spread of artificial tissues, far more opportunities for morally humane lab testing for vaccines and treatments on human tissue without causing harm to conscious humans

I see no problem with the idea of cloning on the whole. The clones are born in this way and so it is not as though they know any different lifestyle. I t would be different if they mutated a creature that was already born in the case of fish which they try to make luminous. In these cases the lifestyle of the creature, and its surrounding creatures will be changed greatly. This will in turn cause great stress the subject in which the mutation was planted. However, as aforementioned, this does not happen in the case of cloning as it has to come straight from the somatic cells.
Surely, as Dragga put so well, we have the opportunity to take certain organs from animals and learnt to 'cl;one; them it will aid the human race massively in making sure that we no longer have to wait ages when a person with cancer for example needs a new liver - or an animal on the brink of dying needs to get a new heart for example, if we can do this without having to use artificial ones which need constant maintenance and replacements, it will save many countries vast sums of money. On top of this, it allows for the job market to grow exponentially. In the case of graduates of science, specifically biology related ones; this allows them an open chance to go into a sector of work which will require hard work in order to make it be appropriate to the modern era.
That is not to say of course that their are not flaws in the idea of cloning. For example, one argument is that many religious people believe it defies the premise of creationism or intelligent design. This is due to the scientist(s) almost taking on the role of the 'outer body' and thus undermining Him and His power. However, this is not always the case as it can be shown to disprove the theory of evolution. This is due to the idea showing how many creatures can't necessarily evolve, be it at all or at too slow a rate, and so we need to step in, in order to keep the 'outer body's' creations alive and well.
Overall, whilst their are of course moral problems with the idea of cloning, surely having the opportunity to save a creature's life, be it human or animal, must outweigh these challenges?

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Originally Posted by Bobozia

...if we can do this without having to use artificial ones which need constant maintenance and replacements, it will save many countries vast sums of money.

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It's unlikely cloning will be that cheap. In fact it could be so expensive that many people will fail to see the benefits of cloning at all.

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Originally Posted by Ardemax

It's unlikely cloning will be that cheap. In fact it could be so expensive that many people will fail to see the benefits of cloning at all.

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Wasn't the exact same thing said about the personal computer? Look at where it is today.

Anyway I don't really see an issue with it that affects me, but if beings (well mostly humans) are completely cloned then I see no good coming of it. There would be conflict or we would treat them like products. Thinking about it actually reminds me of the Kara demo (even though it's a robot not a clone), but that basically covers what I'm on about.

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Originally Posted by dbgtz

Wasn't the exact same thing said about the personal computer? Look at where it is today.

Anyway I don't really see an issue with it that affects me, but if beings (well mostly humans) are completely cloned then I see no good coming of it. There would be conflict or we would treat them like products. Thinking about it actually reminds me of the Kara demo (even though it's a robot not a clone), but that basically covers what I'm on about.

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The thought of a human clone becoming a personal computer is a scary one :D

I also don't want to think of the prospect of human clones just rolling off production lines...

Human cloning does make me worry - imagine if you could clone someone completely including memories. Terrible but rich people e.g. terrorists could just return in cloned form.

Memories have nothing to do with DNA

I think cloning is fine, as long as it isn't the full cloning of human beings. I don't exactly agree in organ farming from clones for example :P But growing skin etc. that's perfectly fine, and I don't have anything against cloning meat for human consumption.

I think as a branch of science it is a good route to take, many current unknowns could be discovered from it. As for organs for humans, I don't agree with that. As for human cloning; the same issues in testing would occur as with Dolly meaning many mutated and suffering human beings being formed and that's beyond inhumane.

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Originally Posted by FlyingJesus

Memories have nothing to do with DNA

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Just imagine if they could copy memories. Actually they are trying to do this, to download the brain and put it onto a disc so we can live forever. I don't really want to live forever.