Human Cloning & Biological Weapons

[ProHypster]

Dolly was cloned 10 years ago, since then we made a virus and a cell through biological engineering (Of course not the full way but still)

 

Yet, sheep cloning is one thing, once the technology for human cloning is there on the other hand we can just predict or even know the world will be much more vulnerable. What if a madman gets ahold of the technology, it's practically a game of time once the technology is out. What would that do to our ethics?

Will these clones then be used for warfare, as perfect soldiers?

Seems like we are eventually making a weapon that can outsmart us and which can become more powerful then us.

Is that really a good idea?

My question is whether you think this can be a serious problem and whether we should avoid it by stopping science to progress in that area. Or should we just sit back and watch how science reveals the secret of human cloning and worry and question for the rest of our lives?

 

That was an expression by the way, of course not that dramatically...

 

PS: I don't know if this is a civilization problem but I feel like it's one of the biggies here noone mentioned.

Edited May 28, 2011 by Guest (see edit history)

[Alyxx Thorne]

The amount of identical staff in Half-Life 1 certainly leads me to believe Black Mesa had succeeded in human cloning before they experimented with interdimensional portals.

[ProHypster]

The amount of identical staff in Half-Life 1 certainly leads me to believe Black Mesa had succeeded in human cloning before they experimented with interdimensional portals.

+ rep

 

But seriously, I am kind of afraid what the world will be like once the technology is out....

[danielsangeo]

Methinks someone has been watching too many Hollywood movies.

 

Also, human cloning is a completely inefficient way of going after your enemies because, even though they're clones, they're human beings. If you're going to create an army, why spend the time, energy, and money to create clones when there are billions of people already on Earth to do your bidding? The 'technology' to create humans has been around since before humans existed. It's called: Reproduction.

 

"Clone armies" is Hollywood. Clones don't go from cell to adult human overnight. A cloned human would still have to go through gestation and birth, then babyhood, toddler, child, pre-teen, teen, then to young adult and adult as a normal human grows. And the possibilities of glitches in the process make it even more non-viable.

 

If you want an army, cloning is not the way to do it. You're just adding cost and possible glitches into what already exists. Just grab a bunch of men and women, turn them into breeding factories, and let them give birth to your army.

 

(Wow! That's dark.)

[Alyxx Thorne]

If you want an army, cloning is not the way to do it. You're just adding cost and possible glitches into what already exists. Just grab a bunch of men and women, turn them into breeding factories, and let them give birth to your army.

 

(Wow! That's dark.)

Sounds like one of my sex fantasies.

[ProHypster]

Methinks someone has been watching too many Hollywood movies.

 

Also, human cloning is a completely inefficient way of going after your enemies because, even though they're clones, they're human beings. If you're going to create an army, why spend the time, energy, and money to create clones when there are billions of people already on Earth to do your bidding? The 'technology' to create humans has been around since before humans existed. It's called: Reproduction.

 

"Clone armies" is Hollywood. Clones don't go from cell to adult human overnight. A cloned human would still have to go through gestation and birth, then babyhood, toddler, child, pre-teen, teen, then to young adult and adult as a normal human grows. And the possibilities of glitches in the process make it even more non-viable.

 

If you want an army, cloning is not the way to do it. You're just adding cost and possible glitches into what already exists. Just grab a bunch of men and women, turn them into breeding factories, and let them give birth to your army.

 

(Wow! That's dark.)

And that's exactly why I'm talking about rapid cloning technology and not a slow process like the alternative. I don't think it's that impossible as you do and no I don't like Star Wars too much...

[danielsangeo]

Some things, I believe, are still relegated to science fiction....like laser swords or faster than light speed travel. Should we get to a point where these things exist, I believe culture and technology would also advance to a point where these things won't be as "scary" as they seem now.

 

Think about it. Go back 150 years ago and tell someone that you can interact, in near real time, with people all over the globe and that major economies of the world rely on this system. They'd imagine horror stories about possibly bringing down entire countries' economies with the single push of a button.

 

As you know, that's not likely to happen today because culture and technology has grown to a point to counteract those possibilities.

 

As of right now, you can't turn a cell into an adult in a short timespan, much less a clone.

[ProHypster]

Alright, then let's talk about near future, how about biological weapon cloning. Creating a virus/monster/harmful entity DNA by altering an already made DNA.

[danielsangeo]

Ah, well, that's different and very scary. But, I don't see a way to stop the technology. We just need to find a way to combat it.

[ProHypster]

I'm not going to blame anyone though like some christians probably will.

My formula is:

With knowledge comes power.

With power comes responsibility.

With responsibility comes irresponsibility.

With irresopnsibility comes Tragedy.

 

Just a thought

 

I feel fear for our long passion for activity, knowledge and experiments will eventually destroy us.

We can't do anything about it though.

[danielsangeo]

Actually, I feel the opposite. Call me a starry-eyed optimist but I believe that when they build a better mouse trap, we build a better mouse. And so on.

 

....not sure that analogy makes sense....I'm tired and should sleep.

[Ross Scott]

Regular population growth is way more of a threat to civilization than cloning, I'll move this to the serious topic section.

[d9soccer]

aye, the world is already overpopulated, and we make that even better by paving over the best farmland on earth by putting our houses there

[Koockaburra101]

I don't get why people are so weirded out by cloning, twins are already genetically identical

[WonSul]

I don't get why people are so weirded out by cloning, twins are already genetically identical

 

Apparently twins aren't genetically identical.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080215121214.htm

 

Anyway, From what I understand of cloning, the problem is that the age of whatever is being cloned is also a factor.

When I was studying High school biology I remember an example were the animal they cloned was already pretty old so the clone also didn't live long. This was related to cell division. I think it was called Telomeres. As the cells divide the telomeres get shorter. The problem being that the cells used to create the clone would come from an older sample with already short telomeres. So the number of times the cells can divide for the clone is already shortened.

 

As far as the morality goes. I don't think cloning should be done beyond growing replacement body parts like limbs and organs. but not brains or entire beings. And creating entirely new species is going to backfire in most cases. Mutation is a genuine cause of evolution. Once the organism mutates, it will no longer do what it was designed to. Recreating extinct species is also a problem. As that could devastate current ecosystems. and then what? recreate all the species that went extinct because of the stupidity of the people involved. Sounds like constant work without any chance of long term success.

[ProHypster]

What you guys seem to forget is the perfection of DNA concept.

 

What if scientists could make a DNA (By altering the human DNA) that is much smarter then us by altering the genes, or something that can live much longer then us? Or something that can't get any diseases or when it's wounded, it heals itelf very quickly.

IS the counter weapon going to be even more powerful altered DNA?

What if our experiment outsmarts pretty badly... it knows how to destroy us or survive for a long time...

How are we going to treat it... as a human... or a clone?

The effect on morality is one thing I'm afraid of the other is that this shit could really be a danger.

[danielsangeo]

What you guys seem to forget is the perfection of DNA concept.

 

What if scientists could make a DNA (By altering the human DNA) that is much smarter then us by altering the genes, or something that can live much longer then us? Or something that can't get any diseases or when it's wounded, it heals itelf very quickly.

IS the counter weapon going to be even more powerful altered DNA?

What if our experiment outsmarts pretty badly... it knows how to destroy us or survive for a long time...

How are we going to treat it... as a human... or a clone?

The effect on morality is one thing I'm afraid of the other is that this shit could really be a danger.

 

I'm sure that, by the time we perfect it to that extent, we'll also be able to "get out of it", as it were.... like I said earlier, if they build a better mouse, we build a better mouse trap. Remember: Just because they advance doesn't mean that we won't.

[Song]

Well if we make a 'better human' that will destroy the old human, I guess

that could be called artifical evolution?

[ProHypster]

What you guys seem to forget is the perfection of DNA concept.

 

What if scientists could make a DNA (By altering the human DNA) that is much smarter then us by altering the genes, or something that can live much longer then us? Or something that can't get any diseases or when it's wounded, it heals itelf very quickly.

IS the counter weapon going to be even more powerful altered DNA?

What if our experiment outsmarts pretty badly... it knows how to destroy us or survive for a long time...

How are we going to treat it... as a human... or a clone?

The effect on morality is one thing I'm afraid of the other is that this shit could really be a danger.

 

I'm sure that, by the time we perfect it to that extent, we'll also be able to "get out of it", as it were.... like I said earlier, if they build a better mouse, we build a better mouse trap. Remember: Just because they advance doesn't mean that we won't.

 

The problem is, we my not be fast enough for the solution and then the other problem is wouldn't the clone make his own solution to that solution?????? And we would lose in the end since he is smarter or "more advanced".

 

As for examples were we did something that harmed us before inventing the counter.

 

1. Nuclear weapons, if someone launched one now we still have slim chances of countering it and that's 50 years or so after invention.

 

2. Weapons in the army do not keep up with the armor in the army generally.

 

3. Pollution still cannot be reversed artificially after 200 years or so of invention of pollution.

[danielsangeo]

The problem is, we my not be fast enough for the solution and then the other problem is wouldn't the clone make his own solution to that solution?????? And we would lose in the end since he is smarter or "more advanced".

 

I think you're watching too many Hollywood movies. Real life doesn't work that way.

 

As for examples were we did something that harmed us before inventing the counter.

 

1. Nuclear weapons, if someone launched one now we still have slim chances of countering it and that's 50 years or so after invention.

 

And, inherent in this, is MAD: Mutually Assured Destruction. Anyone that launches a nuke will be nuked back. Watch the movie WarGames (for a semi-realistic idea of MAD).

 

2. Weapons in the army do not keep up with the armor in the army generally.

 

This has to do with money, not technology.

 

3. Pollution still cannot be reversed artificially after 200 years or so of invention of pollution.

 

This has to do with ideology, not technology.