The Wrongs Of Cloning Essay, Research Paper
Cloning s Harms and the Happiness of the World The Pre-Designed Body, by Alvin Toffler, presents us with the interesting thought on the possibilities of cloning. Cloning has the potentiality to prevent many diseases and other harmful things from hurting humans. When this article was written, cloning was still a dream. Now, we are confronted with an all too real nightmare of the cloning of humans. The cloning of human beings creates more problems than it would fix. Cloning in its basic form is meant to be good. Theoretically, it is good because it brings the human race closer to perfection. Perfection can be achieved by mixing and matching individuals genes between each other. For example, you mix Arnold Schwarzenneggar with Leonardo Di Caprio. You would get a strong man with a boyish-like pretty face. Women would constantly be swooning over him. Similarly, you could make an ultra women. Then, the question must be brought forth, what good does cloning actually do? The answer, it does no good. The mixing of genes to create an attractive man or woman is messing with mother nature. Humans were never meant to play God, yet that is exactly what they are doing when they clone. This also formulates another problem in that many people would look the same. The so-called “parents” of these clones would inevitably have similar interest in what “good-looking” is. The majority of the male teenage population worships the airwaves that Cindy Crawford graces herself on. Any clone a young male would make most likely would resemble a super-model of some kind. Also, these same young men know which guys that women are attracted to. If they were to clone themselves, they would fashion their clone to look like a Brad Pitt. That way, they could get all the women to swoon over them. When everyone is doing this, it leads to a monotony of faces. Everyone would look almost exactly alike. What is the beauty in similarity? A possible solution to this is to have the government regulate cloning. But, as Toffler brings up, who in the government will decide which components of cloning will and will not be allowed? Once cloning became wide-spread, it would be impossible to control how other countries used the technology. If Saddam Hussain cloned himself, would more terror be released upon the Middle Eastern countries. It is impossible to predict, but not worth the risk of taking. Hussain has killed thousands of his own countrymen to test out chemical weapons. What would happen if there were two of him to continue spreading his thoughts and ideals? The same could be said for any leader or individual whom society deems as dangerous or harmful. In the article, it said ” those most likely to replicate themselves will be those who are most narcissistic, and that the clones they produce will also be narcissists.” This statement being true, cloning could give us more Ted Kaczynskis, Jeffrey Dahmers, and even another Hitler. It is not too far fetched to believe that cloning could produce a second holocaust. The horror that these men would reap upon the world is unspeakable and is something that should not be permitted. But the wrongs of cloning are not just limited to the cloning of lunatics. Once cloning becomes more common and readily accessible to the layman, what do you do with all of these clones? Where are they going to live? What are they going to eat? The world population is already burgeoning and is increasing more everyday. Countries in Asia and Africa have hard enough times finding food for themselves, what do they do with their clone buddies? If even only the United States allowed cloning, that still will take a lot of food to feed the people; enough food to perhaps force us to cut back on the amount of food and supplies that we give to other countries. That would cause a widespread famine in
Perhaps one benefit of cloning is the medical cures that could possibly be found. By cloning an individual with a disease or with brain damage, it would be possible to operate on the clone with no remorse. After all, the clone isn t real, it is more like a robot than a human. Using clones to find medical cures is good, but it does lead to another problem. Once all of these cures are found, what happens to the population? Already, medicine is helping people live longer than ever. When more medicines and cures for diseases are found, people will live much longer. A cure for old age may even be found. Again, this leads to the over population of the planet. The same problems as were stated above will be in effect; only on a larger scale. Instead of sending foreign aid to any country, we will have to cut all foreign aid to take care of our clones and the elderly. It will now be possible to meet your great-great-great grandparents. Families will be able to cherish their relatives and loved once for a much longer time. This is good for individual families, yet bad for the world itself. If it is not possible for the world to support the current population and clones, it is definitely impossible to support the world population, clones, and the elderly who should be passing on but are not. Cloning gives us many options on how we want the future of the world to look. Cloning enables us to mix and match genetics making it possible to eliminate such diseases as cancer. This also enables us to choose other things such as skin color. With cloning, would races be eliminated as well? This would bring about the ultimate in equality which is good. But, it also brings about an end to a culture that has lived millions of years. Diversity has caused America to thrive and be known as the melting pot of the world. Getting rid of races would end all of that. On the other hand, cloning could also develop more hatred and racism. Some cultures may choose not to or would not have the technology to clone. This would lead some groups of people to persecute them. Those cultures would be viewed as backwards and behind the times. They would be viewed as a lower race, one not equal with the rest of the world. Still another question develops out of this, would clones be considered equal or would they be a lesser race? Clones could very easily become slaves. With clones being slaves to the world, this would create a mass apartheid. As has been demonstrated in South Africa and even here in the United States, slavery does not work. Slavery eventually leads to fighting and destruction. Here in America, this translated into the Civil War. Now imagine the Civil War on a more grand scale. It is not a question of if the slaves will revolt, it is a question of when they will revolt. And when the slaves finally decide that they are going to fight back, it will result in the third world war. Destruction would be rampant and would cause millions if not a billion people to lose their lives. For many reasons, cloning can be viewed in a positive light. But, if you examine each and every one of those reasons, you will find more and more faults. Each fault being possibly disastrous to human kind. There are too many possibilities of things going wrong to toy with the thought of cloning.. It is not worth taking a risk that could forever change the Earth for the worse.