Cloning animals for food, cloning human body parts & parents picking their kids Genes

Nanami said:

Been done before, but it's usually considered inhumane.

What? They don't have to clone the whole body and cut an arm off for instance. Scientists already succeeded in growing a human ear on the back of a mouse. So I guess they can, or will be able to grow seperate parts of the human body without the rest attached to it.

Maybe some day a group of scientists will develop a way to create clones minus the 'natural birth' way.

But how do you clone a soul?!?!?!

Dingus Khan said:

But how do you clone a soul?!?!?!

And what, you think those are passed to us genetically when we are concieved by our parents? Or is it the vaginal-exit that does it?

I seriously doubt a soul has anything to do with the means by which one comes to exist. Perhaps living things draw souls to themselves the moment they come to be alive, no matter what.

EDIT: AFTERTHOUGHT: It is likely that your argument would, in a future world with human clones, be used by clone hate-groups. Clones would be the next segregated, thought-inhuman race because religious groups would claim that they weren't born "the way god intended", therefore they don't have souls.

If you can find somewhere in the Bible a passage stating that at natural birth God ordains every human as a person, then I'll give you credit for at least having a partly valid argument. Partly, I say, because I think that even if (not taking a stance on whether it is or not here) the Bible is true, it's most likely been extremely diluted by bad translation over the years.

Ultraviolet said:

If you can find somewhere in the Bible a passage stating that at natural birth God ordains every human as a person, then I'll give you credit for at least having a partly valid argument. Partly, I say, because I think that even if (not taking a stance on whether it is or not here) the Bible is true, it's most likely been extremely diluted by bad translation over the years.

Hey, didn't you hear Shaviro? God doesn't exist, so he doesn't have anything to do with it. Shaviro knows this AS FACT because he's fucking amazing!

Shaviro IS fucking amazing! Hoochie mama!

Whether there's a god or not I've got my reasons to believe that humans do have souls. One can control one's own mind just like one can control one's own body. One's mind doesn't control itself, so what does? Will, AKA soul, the permeating force that (should) controls your physical manifestation. It is what gives you the power to still make choices even when your brain chemistry, state of mind, and your body all seem to indicate that you have no choice. I prove the existence of my own soul to myself every time I change my mind, control my temper, or do something that benefits someone else at my expense, temporal or financial (defying what my mind and body may want, proving that there is another level of control, a higher level, so to speak).

Hey!?
Would you believe me if I told you I have an invisible friend only I can see? No!? You want me to prove it? Ok... It's a fact that these invisible fantasy creatures don't exist until somebody proves that fact wrong. Please give me one small piece of evidence that the fantasy creature some cults call for "god" exists.

And on the soul business. Your soul is just your consciousness. And your consciousness is the fact that your brain has as much processing power as it does. That's my theory anyways.

Threadstarter:
1) Cloning animals for extra food. Think about it, with this technology, we could breed masses of cows in months and have them be cloned in a few months and we have TONS of surplus food, which is then shipped to 3rd world countries.

Er... what technology is this? Cloned animals need to mature just like 'normal' animals. Cloning them will not speed up this process.
Furthermore in the bio-industry people want their animals to be genitically different. This way there is constant sellection and 'better' animals emerge all the time. Companies without genitic diversity will always produce less than those who keep improving their 'stock'.

2) Cloning human body parts. As sick is this sounds, organ farms could be extremely helpful lifesavers. Less time to wait on a doner list.

This doesn't sound sick to me at all, in fact it is a logical and ethical alternative. In fact why don't we clone animal parts for consumption while we are at it?! No more cruelty to animals!

3) Parents selecting the genes of their children. I dunno, it takes all the fun out of a birth, but it DOES have good points. You could remove genes that cause illnesses and also craft the child of the best of both your traits to mold how they will generally act in their life.

... difficult...
To prevent serious illnesses and syndromes: yes.
other: no

Shaviro said:

And on the soul business. Your soul is just your consciousness. And your consciousness is the fact that your brain has as much processing power as it does. That's my theory anyways.

Consciousness is, by definition, awareness of surroundings. Consciousness is the result of the senses feeding information on "the real world" to the mind for interpretation. That does not eliminate my belief in a soul. Yes, our minds and bodies do physically operate like computers, using a fixed set of rules, but I believe we (our actual selves, not the mind and body) sit above that as operators, capable of as little or as much control as we would like to take.

A soul is an explanation for people that don't have any other explanation for how things work. Like the Egyptians, who didn't know what the brain was used for. =P

The concept of a soul is not unscientific (EDIT: Meaning that my personal views on what a soul is do not eliminate the brain as a controlling entity over the body). I understand the proposition that the brain does everything, but I really don't believe that the brain is responsible for making choices. The brain percieves, differentiates, reasons, and controls the body, but I don't believe that the brain is in control of itself, aside from regulating its own chemistry. The brain is just a tool that we use to interface with others and "the real world." Leaving out the soul leaves life as a purely mechanical, self-serving concept where physical drives and self-preservation are the reason for life.

Cloning is like twins only one comes out the pussy and another comes out a tube filled with blue water and wires and shit.

The soul thing is an argument clone haters use now.

Dingus Khan said:

Cloning is like twins only one comes out the pussy and another comes out a tube filled with blue water and wires and shit.

Clones still have to be born by a mother. They just aren't conceived the proper (fun) way.

IMJack said:

Clones still have to be born by a mother. They just aren't conceived the proper (fun) way.

lol ur dum didn't u watch NE of teh clone movies?

Why would God, if He does exist, care how life is created? Sounds arbitrary, don't you think? I simply cannot stand for an arbitrary God. On the other hand, I don't think genetically engineered kids is a good idea. Even if we could do it, there are a million consequences that we haven't even thought of. I just don't think we'll ever be in a position to make the proper choices.