[Physicist]

i don't know how you came to this conclusion. the issue at hand is cloning.

Well, there you have it. The Nazis didn't clone anybody.

hitler was trying to create a master race and purify his territories through genocide, involving the killing of innocent people. people that want to clone are in a sense trying to create a master race in that they want to perpetuate themselves.

Don't you see the difference? In Nazi Germany, genetic choices were made by the State and implemented through death. With IVF and cloning, the choices will be made by the individual and implemented through new life. They are opposites. (As for the killing of embryos, I have already stipulated that that needs to be fixed.)

the bible outlaws cloning as a way to make humans. please read genesis with special attention to chapter 4 vs 1 and 2.

I am neither a Christian nor a Jew, and in any case our laws are not based on the Bible.

of course, we have all of the ethical questions about what we are creating, and all the theological questions. is a clone a human being? does it have a soul? will it be a mass of human cells, but lacking a conscience, or morals?

i certainly do not want to be an alarmist, but let's just say that these cloned beings do not have human values and want to destroy humans. how will we know who they are? how will we stop them? sort of like an al-qaeda cell in the united states, except they look like you and me!

Your fears are so foolish and ill-founded that I will not address them other than to point out that every twin in existence is a clone. I suggest you ask one of them.

[mlocher]

i am neither christian or jew, and in any case our laws are not based on the bible

do you have a religious affiliation?

actually, our constitution is based on the bible. our forefathers wrote a constitution with the understanding that men believed in god. belief in god undergirded our constitution and laws, which alleviated the need to have a lot of detailed laws and a lot of federal authority.

i will quote 1 corinthians 1:18-19 NIV:
for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of god. for it is written:
'i will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent i will frustrate'

this is st. paul talking to a group of christians in corinth who were having a difficult time because outsiders were trying to rationalize a heathen belief and discredit god.

[Andrewksu]

You are naive if you believe that the definition of a “good” person is high I.Q., tall, and strong. etc. There are many, many more attributes that make a person, many of which we are in the dark about. Also you would be narrowing the gene pool, which leads to many problems (genetic defects, disease). Diversity of the species allows for greatest success and slow adaptation is the best way to get there. I myself have ADD (attention deficit disorder, which is not really a disorder, but a different way of thinking), which would be on your checklist for attributes to delete. Now I am not inclined to be an accountant or the like, but my way of thinking which is considered by some to be fragmented and without focus, helps in a creative field such as architecture, where multi-track thinking is beneficial. Also you are ignoring the effect of environment, which is as important, if not more so, than genetic makeup. Intelligence gets you nowhere without a good environment where you can develop to your potential. Finally, you are placing way too much faith in our knowledge of ourselves. We are far from understanding the depths of life. This is all in addition to the fact that if you give them an inch, they take a mile. Take for instance abortion and when do we believe human life begins conception, birth, graduation? The Gattica situation would only be a matter of time. Btw, my first post, had to say something