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Hello, again, Another UnixGeek. Thanks for your comments. I would be willing to let us “agree to disagree,” but since you are an inquisitive person, I would like to leave you with an important opportunity to learn more about WHY science cannot do just anything. Science has formally admitted that there are things which science CANNOT do. It’s called the Godel theorem, and it is accepted by science as proven. For example, science cannot write a formula that describes prime numbers, and this also a proven mathematical theorem. This is very important because so many people in the modern world, like yourself, think that science only needs more time or effort to achieve anything that can be conceived. Do we now know enough to determine whether human cloning may be one of those impossibles? We can only say that the workings of the cell are orders of magnitude more complex than we imagined a few decades ago, and those of the human cell are orders of magnitude more complex than those of any of the animals. We don’t know why, but the living cell seems to be more than the sum of parts and functions.
For more info on Godel theorem and a highly readable treatment of the subject of scientific capabilities, see the excellent book “Godel, Escher, Bach” by Douglas Hofstader.

It’s called the Godel theorem, and it is accepted by science as proven. For example, science cannot write a formula that describes prime numbers, and this also a proven mathematical theorem. This is very important because so many people in the modern world, like yourself, think that science only needs more time or effort to achieve anything that can be conceived. Do we now know enough to determine whether human cloning may be one of those impossibles? We can only say that the workings of the cell are orders of magnitude more complex than we imagined a few decades ago, and those of the human cell are orders of magnitude more complex than those of any of the animals.

Thank you, in turn, for taking the time to read my response and responding yourself.

I'm familiar with Godel's incompleteness theorems, but I'm puzzled that you think they support your argument about the impossibility of human reproductive cloning.

I'm aware that mathematics and physics prove many things impossible, if that's the point you want to make - for instance, no particle with mass can accelerate to the speed of light. But your statement that the cells of the human body are more complicated than those of animals by several orders of magnitude is not true. If you're considering genes, many animals have as many or more. Many animals have more chromosomes as well. And some of these animals have already been cloned successfully.

The real issues with human cloning right now are preventing genetic damage from the cloning process and improving cloning techniques so no embryos are destroyed in the process. These are technical obstacles to overcome in a process that already works, and they will be resolved.

I think the issue of reproductive cloning has been unfairly caught up in the embryonic stem-cell and abortion issues. I'm firmly against abortion, and firmly in favor of respecting human life at all stages. But reproductive cloning could provide a very great good to many people who will never be able to have children biologically. In addition to giving them the joys and responsibilities of parenthood, cloning gives their genes another lifetime to reproduce through normal means and carry the genetic inheritance they received from their parents and grandparents into the future. I'd urge you, in turn, to think about it with an open mind.