ARW Winter Notes for 12/18 - Discussion on fears of cloning

Some of the questions we discussed in class were:

1. Will we be able to copy a soul? It is clear to most of us that a clone is only a copy of DNA, not a copy of the soul or personality (Though Clonaid and the Raelians, who claimed in 2002 that they cloned a human girl and many other clones since, would disagree--they think cloning is the path to immortality--scary cult). However, in the future, with a more advanced understanding of the brain, will it become possible to copy someone's "brain" including memories, knowledge, personality and so on? It is difficult to imagine how this could be done, but since the brain consists of electronic signals and chemicals, it may be a matter of time. On Wikipedia, there is a page that explains such Mind Uploading as the ultimate development of neuroinfomatics. If you like classics, see also the Ship of Theseus.
   
   
2. Should we be allowed to clone pets? I think this possibility will come about quite soon because the attractiveness of this option for pet owners and breeders is quite obvious. However we should consider the implications of beginning to choose exactly what kind of animal we are going to get. Although we already do that to some extent by buying pets in stores or breeding them with "good genes," cloning means we will get "exactly" what we expect and that means we may lose our ability to accept weaker or less than perfect pets (and eventually people)?