Cloned Baby Girl 'due By New Year'

[Dianna Vesta]

Cloned baby girl 'due by new year'
From Richard Owen in Rome



THE first of five women impregnated with cloned embryos is due to give birth to a baby girl by the end of the year, a member of the controversial Raelian movement said last night.

The group made the announcement after Severino Antinori, the Italian fertility expert, claimed that the first cloned human baby would be born in January.

“We have five pregnancies under way, of which one is almost due,” Brigitte Boisselier, managing director of the Raelians’ Clonaid project, based in Las Vegas, said.

The Raelians believe that life on Earth was established by extra-terrestrials who arrived in flying saucers 25,000 years ago, and that humans were created by cloning.

Dr Antinori, who runs a fertility clinic near the Vatican, said the woman involved in his programme was in her 33rd week of pregnancy, which was proceeding normally. He said the foetus was male.


:hic:

This should be interesting.

More info about the Raelians (pretty nice site btw( is at:

http://www.rael.org/int/english/index.html

[gigi]

The Raelians believe that life on Earth was established by extra-terrestrials who arrived in flying saucers 25,000 years ago, and that humans were created by cloning.

Hmmmm.....interesting theory...haha

Cloning humans is a very scary thought for me. On the one hand I can see where it would push medical research far and beyond in a good way......and on the other I feel that we're messing with something we shouldn't.

Checking out the Raelians site.....

[gigi]

Originally posted by gigi@Nov 28 2002, 01:41 PM
The Raelians believe that life on Earth was established by extra-terrestrials who arrived in flying saucers 25,000 years ago, and that humans were created by cloning.

Hmmmm.....interesting theory...haha

Cloning humans is a very scary thought for me. On the one hand I can see where it would push medical research far and beyond in a good way......and on the other I feel that we're messing with something we shouldn't.

Checking out the Raelians site.....
oh, and for the record, if humans were created by cloning wouldn't there have to be the 'first' one to clone??

[Dianna Vesta]

Well I'm honestly not sure but I think you can clone from DNA any tissue? I can swear to that tho.

DV

[gigi]

Originally posted by Dianna Vesta@Nov 28 2002, 02:45 PM
Well I'm honestly not sure but I think you can clone from DNA any tissue? I can swear to that tho.

DV
But they'd have to get the human DNA to begin with right?
:unsure:

[Almighty Colin]

Originally posted by gigi@Nov 28 2002, 01:41 PM
on the other I feel that we're messing with something we shouldn't.


Why do you feel that way? What are you afraid might happen?

[cj]

Originally posted by Colin+Nov 29 2002, 08:17 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Colin @ Nov 29 2002, 08:17 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin--gigi@Nov 28 2002, 01:41 PM
on the other I feel that we're messing with something we shouldn't.


Why do you feel that way? What are you afraid might happen?[/b][/quote]
I'm afraid of gattaca (sp?)

The type of world where everyone is a copy of the ideal human being, created solely for productivity ... countries with cloning technology start making 'super humans', and then we have a 'robocop' situation ... or maybe humans stop really being humans and become some kind of Agent Smith & Keanu Reeves saga, where we stop actually living, and just think we are living ...

but, the reality is that there is nothing we can do about it ... the ability to clone humans and design a person to be pure physical perfection will always win over the moral issues ...

either way, for something like the above to happen will take a really long time ... and most of us will probably no longer be here




now clone me brad pitt!!!!!

[Almighty Colin]

Love that title.

G uanine
A denine
T hymine
T hymine
A denine
C ytosine
A denine

So you are afraid of the loss of identity and individuality, correct? I wrote this a few days ago:

"sexual reproduction must have some huge cost benefit for it to have appeared in mammals (and others). There are many theories about this - one popular one of which is Bill Hamilton's. Basically his theory states that sexual reproduction leads to the storing of copies of genes that have no survival value currently but may in the future. Some day, some killer virus comes and some people luckily had the right immune system to deal with it because of recombination. Species that reproduce sexually will end up with better disease resistance than if they didn't. There are other theories too. Matt Ridley's book "The Red Queen" is excellent and on this topic. "

Controlling our own genetic output has this interesting quality about it. There would at first be a huge advantage to the individual and the family.The families that could afford it would have the "super kids" and those kids would do better in school, in the world, etc. (by definition and assumption).

A world of clones would leave humans in a dangerous position though. There would be less variation within the species and therefore less possible survival mechanisms to deal with changing environment.

Really - what does it matter? Why do we hold to the notion of individuality? Why is it important to us?

If humans could engineer a race of bio-computer robots that were superior to us why would we NOT do it? We would be putting the best of our human qualities in our predecessors.We would be choosing our predecessors.

[cj]

Originally posted by Colin@Nov 29 2002, 09:07 AM
So you are afraid of the loss of identity and individuality, correct?


>>Yes, definately that is 100% of the reason why it scares me



I wrote this a few days ago:

Controlling our own genetic output has this interesting quality about it. There would at first be a huge advantage to the individual and the family.The families that could afford it would have the "super kids" and those kids would do better in school, in the world, etc. (by definition and assumption).



>>Scary thought ... I hope that when I come back in my next life, i'm not one of the poor kids ... this would be worst case scenario 'rich get richer, poor get poorer'



Really - what does it matter? Why do we hold to the notion of individuality? Why is it important to us?

If humans could engineer a race of bio-computer robots that were superior to us why would we NOT do it? We would be putting the best of our human qualities in our predecessors.We would be choosing our predecessors.
The things I like most about life are:

1) The achievements I make because of unique qualities or skills I have learned
2) Being with a new partner and learning about them, learning the unique shapes of their body, their personal qualities good and bad ...
3) I share features with different members of my family, mum, dad, sister, grandparents ... our family shares features and qualities that other families don't have, and I like that

Unfortunately for us, we've already learned to like these things and are talking as if they are going to be 'taken away tomorrow' ... by the time the world is full of clones, everyone will be used to it!

[Almighty Colin]

Cloning doesn't change any of those things. Clones will still look different than their parents because of(different diets, environmental conditions, etc. They will still have personalities considerably different than their parent. Maybe completely different. Hell, let's find out! I would feel pretty confident in that though. I am not the person I was even last year because of all the shit that has happened in the past year. If my clone was born in Saudi Arabia, they'd probably be a Muslim - DEFINITELY a different person with different points of view than me.

Clones won't change the fact that YOU would stillhave those things though. You are saying you don't want future humans to not have them, right? If the future of humankind is nonindividuality, maybe they won't care. If they don't care, why should WE care? What if nonindividuality is better for the species? What do you think under those conditions? Is it worth the "sacrifice"?

[cj]

If my clone was born in Saudi Arabia, they'd probably be a Muslim - DEFINITELY a different person with different points of view than me.
-----

definately ... if the world was still the same ...

or would 1 country build the superhumans (because they had the best cloning technology) and blow up everyone else leaving only 1 superrace!!

(ok, i watch a lot of b grade sci fi/future/war movies LOL)

I'm never afraid of change that happens slowly, because we barely notice it and we adapt ... i'm afraid of total world domination within 5 years by a super species and being herded into a mine, tied to a chain of people pulling coal carts to feed the generators for the super computers run by the super geeks.

don't worry, this fear doesn't take up much of my total thinking time LOL

[Almighty Colin]

Originally posted by cj@Nov 29 2002, 10:16 AM
i'm afraid of total world domination within 5 years by a super species and being herded into a mine, tied to a chain of people pulling coal carts to feed the generators for the super computers run by the super geeks.


And ... the moral of the story is "Be a super geek"

or a super computer.