The Irish potato famine of the last century proved that diversity is the answer. Although there are hundreds of different types of potatoes, the Irish only grew one. When a pest wiped out that one strain of potato then the people went hungry. If the Irish had grown but three types of potatoes, then they wouldn't have starved.

The cloning of humans will be done soon, but I am sure that it will be outlawed like marrying your sister is outlawed. Genetic diversity is good, genetic copying is bad.

Do it right away. before you forget and I run out of clones.

If someone clones himself, thinking it will somehow make him immortal, he's nuts. I've seen identical twins that hate each other. Call it soul, conciousness, ego, or id, you can't clone the essence of the thoughts and feelings that make up any of the higher animals. The religious issues are specious, since identical twins are already recognized by churches as distinct beings with individual souls, and artificial fertilization is accepted by most religions, even though it breaks the sacred bonds of matrimony by allowing a third party to become inimately involved in the process of procreation.

BTW, the telemerones(sp?) on Dolly weren't truncated, as far as any reports I've seen. If I'm wrong, I'd appreciate a cite.

I agree with the general idea about diversity within a species being vital, but the potato famine was more a sociological issue between the poor Irish and their landlords and the Brits, who by in large refused to give aid. Potato blight and black rot affect many varieties of spuds, so much so that most seed potato has to come from certified disease free farms away from the general crop areas. Vermont happens to be one of the areas that grows seed potatoes. I know my Vermont history, and my family came from a long line of farmers (some Irish, some various varieties of Brit).

IMO, cloning humans won't have 1/100th the effect of genetically altering food crops. The corn fiasco shows how weak the safeguards are. Duplicating a small number of beings at the top of the food chain is bound to have less effect on the entire system than playing with the basic foodstuffs we all depend on. One rogue plant strain that is invasive, toxic, and able to cross-pollinate could destroy much of the animal life on the planet if left unchecked.

In truth, the two people or animals are only genetically identical. Just like identical twins, there WILL be some differences between the two people. How many times have you seen twins that you can easily tell apart after you meet them a few times. The differences may be subtile but they are there.

Second, since people can't have identical life experiences they are BOUND to have slightly different personalities. Yes, there are all these stories about identical twins being separated at birth who are reunited as adults only to find out that they have both become firefighters, or something. Anecdotal evidence is pretty convincing but what I bet you DON'T hear about are the stories where people end up being DIFFERENT. Psychologically, we ALL want to find similarities, even if the connection isn't really there.

Finally, if somebody were to clone ME. (Let's just suppose for the sake of arguement... God knows WHY anybody would want somebody else like ME! )
The clone would be 35 years younger than me! He would be growing up in a different society than the one I grew up in and he would have different parents. Those forces that shaped ME wouldn't be the forces that shape my hypothetical clone. The best we can hope for is somebody who looks a lot like me when I was a kid. Who knows, maybe he'll be even goofier than I am!

The only way we could have identical people by making clones would be to make TWO clones of the same person and then put them in a "sterile", controled environment until they are old enough to have had their personalities "set-in".

Your local "Jimmy Fund" or the"Will Rogers Hospital"

and remember it is tax deductible.

>The cloning of humans will be done soon, but I am sure that it will be outlawed like marrying your sister is outlawed. .>

My God !! Marrying your sister isn't allowed? I better tell my Alabama cousins.

That's a great idea!!!

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Andrew McCrea

Dolly's three old year cells showed telomere lengths similar to that of a six year old sheep indicating a premature aging. You can read the article here:

http://genetics.tqn.com/science/genetics/library/weekly/aa082000a.htm

I also read that Persephone and her sister calves (now heifers as the article indicates) have had their telomeres lengthened possibly giving them a prolonged lifespan by about fifty percent. More information on the article here:

http://genetics.tqn.com/science/genetics/library/weekly/aa082100a.htm

I'm curious. Would a clone have the exact same fingerprints as the "master" human? I ask because identical twins do not.

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The man with the magic hands.