Clearing up cloning misconceptions
Shane Hudnall
senior
I yearn for the day when I can have a lab on a hill and create lots of me. That won't happen though. I wanted to make a few points about the cloning issue, touch upon a few random ideas and hopefully clear up some misconceptions.
Effects of genetics and those of the environment. Genetics accounts for only about 30 percent of who we are. People have been putting too much emphasis on genetics. It only predisposes us to certain attributes. The environment plays a much larger role in determining who we are, how intelligent or lazy we become, what we're afraid of,and whether we believe Bob Davie is an attractive man or not.
Cloned humans are not zombies (except maybe Bob Dole). Humans will not be harvested for their organs. If you were to be cloned, the person who would develop from that cell would be its own person. It would be as if you had a twin brother or sister that just happened to be 21 years younger than you. Humans will not be raised and slaughtered so little Johnny can have a new lung.
When does human life begin? Cellular life and human life are distinct. Our variety of emotions, higher-level cognitive thinking and our concept of the self makes humans unique from any other animal. And in order for us as humans to have these abilities, the neurons of our brain must form a highly-ordered structure. But this does not begin to happen until, at the earliest, about the second trimester (at about three months). The embryo before this time can not be human life as we imagine it.
But the embryo has a soul, you say. An organism in the four- or eight-cell stage of development does not have a soul. At this stage, one cell could break away from the mass and form its own, genetically identical individual (for more on the embryo not being human, I suggest reading Lee Silver's "Remaking Eden").
I have much more to say but I think that stirs up enough hostility for now.
Shane Hudnall
senior
Stanford Hall
Jan. 21, 2002
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, January 22, 2002
