Silver p.27-33

Summary of Main Points

Surreptitious Cloning:
Surreptitious cloning means secretly cloning the DNA of other people without their own consent. Silver uses an example called the Michael Jordan scenario to show that it is possible to steal the DNA of a star and clone the star. Rationally speaking, a Michael Jordan clone will not become Michael Jordan, and most will find it a cruel waste of time and energy, but some people may be interested in that out of curiosity or for money, so it may occur illegally. Another point Silver makes is that couples may be able to legally clone "beautiful and bright" people chosen from a catalogue.

Tissue Regeneration
Cloning of embryos in order to create ES (embryonic stem cells) could help people solve many medical problems such as cancer, Parkinsons disease, or heart and liver diseases. For example, if Anissa needs new bone marrow, we would just make an Anissa clone embryo, get stem cells from it, and make those undifferentiated stem cells develop into differentiated bone marrow cells. Then, Anissa could get a transplant with her own healthy cells.
Note: However, in 2010, we know that iPS cells are probably better for this. Our bodies have stem cells in them, so cloning embryos is not needed.

Genetic Engineering
In this last section, Silver introduces the field of genetic modification (GM) and states that cloning will support the use of GM for humans, which is currently impossible because the failure rate is so high. Silver uses the word "special genetic gift" to mean a artificial genetic characteristic that is added to the original embryo's DNA.

What do you think about his final words: "the human species will gain control over its own destiny"?

Critical Reactions / Discussion Points:

1. Regarding the final line, I think Silver should define what he means. What kind of control over life do we want? Do we want to design superior life? I can see the temptation for some people to engineer genes to make children that are smarter or healthier, but I see it as unneeded and detrimental. Let the randonness of nature decide what kind of humans will be born, and let's do the best with it.

2. Obviously, Silver did not know about iPS cells. However, I am concerned that Silver does not feel any need to protect embryos. If an embryo is not a human, then when does a human become a human?

3. Just for discussion, if you could clone somebody to be your child, who would you clone?

4. Also, for discussion, since we are at the end of the text, what is your opinion about human cloning? How has it changed since starting to read Silver's text?