Re: human cloning

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From: Jeff Bone (jbone@jump.net)
Date: Wed Sep 27 2000 - 21:14:36 PDT


Jim Whitehead wrote:

> > Anybody here *actually* think cloning (not for use as parts, just as an
> > alternative reproductive mechanism) is a bad idea?
>
> Well, with so many people on this planet unable to real their full potential
> due to lack of access to resources, it seems like a bad idea to start
> blowing $100-$200k per cloned baby. These resources seem like they would be
> better spent on, say, educating the people already alive.
>

Don't you think that's the resource owner's decision? Don't you agree that
making social decisions on the basis of "better spent," etc. and removing choice
from the resource owner limits the market? And don't you think that's a bad
thing? So "Mr. A" decides that having a clone is a desire of his, and he can
afford it. OTOH, "Mr. B" decides to donate the same amount of money to buying
Linux boxes for schools in Harlem. Believe whatever you want about the moral
value of those two acts; do you really believe that we should base policy about
cloning on this kind of reasoning? Substitute "having a big house in the
Hamptons" for "having a clone" in the first clause. Should we therefore make
buying a house in the Hamptons illegal, on the basis that it's better to spend
that (individual's) cash on education?

I'll admit that I'm on a bit of a tangent, here; the way I phrased my question
it was clearly a call for individual opinion, which is what you gave me. But
what I'm really concerned about is the social policy / governmental restriction
of freedom that the governments seems to be posturing for, without explaining
*why.* The better question to ask would've been "do we think human cloning is
an appropriate for policy and law to address? If so, what should the parameters
be and why?"

> I personally would like to see a human being created through the assembly of
> individual molecules, and thus get at the heart of this whole divine
> creation of life argument.

Me too!

> Thus cloning people for research is OK, but
> performing it wholesale is a poor resource allocation.

Again, who allocates the resources if not the resource holders, and shouldn't
they be free to allocate resources however they want?

>
>
> - Jim


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