cloning idea

[Sushi X]

with all the talk of cloning both for and against, i'm against cloning a person, i was thinking we could use it for bettering mankind. i know they are trying with the stem cell and things similar. why not clone plants which are used for food and the ones we use for extacts for medicines? why not clone animals for food. you could increase food supply this way and even be able to feed countries who are starving. yes, this is a far fetched idea and more than likely neve happen but i just thought i'd stir up a conversation about it. who knows, we might get some good discussion going here.

 

[Norman Bates]

They are already cloning plants, it´s caled callus extraction or something like that.
Why would you want to clone animals for food if you can have them mate?
Let the poor creatures have a little fun before they become dinner

 

[MP5]

why would you clone an animal when they will reproduce for you at no cost, with more success? You can use one bull to breed a whole herd of cows. And correct me if i am wrong, but even with cloning you still need a host female to put the embryo in, so why wouldn't you just breed that female?

 

[danielson]

good topic, and not at all far-fetched

well they are trying to clone plants that have been genetically engineered (i.e. one that grows to a certain height or makes its own pesticide), or clone animals that have been altered to produce chemicals (i.e. factor 8 for haemophiliacs in sheep milk). all of these are researc things but they have done it with other plants (corn, coffee, wheat)


cloning would only really be more efficientfor food production if it were to produce animals or plants that had an advantage over other 'normal' produce (i.e. that results in more meat for $ or more bang for your buck)

so cloning a super calorie dense maize might be good, or a wheat which kills pests automatically etc, something hat will give it n advantage.

cloning a standard plant/animal is not that great as while u are assured healthy characteristics (as opposed to a random crop where a certain % will be mutations, short plants, thin anuimals etc) the crop will be more prone to something wiping it all out, and that it costs a lot more than say just letting the animals do it adam and eve style


but yes, i do think cloning these 'super plants' would help 3rd world countries immensly. scientists from these countries are therefore VERY pissed at the publi and media reactiopn over here to GM crops as its potentially lifesaving for them and us to be able to manipulate plants in a changin climate (if the cliamate changes, a lot of our plants wouldnt be able to survive). the media has no solid scientific reason to stand on yet it whipped a frenzy over this

gotta love the media.

 

[Sushi X]

ok, i did'nt think of the breeding issue, i was more into thinking of mass production to feed people.

i can't wait to see people here talking about cloning marijiuana, lol.

 

[Mickey Knox]

Why dont they clone endangered animals?

 

[Sushi X]

i was thinking that myself.

 

[Sushi X]

Re: Re: cloning idea

not too bright are you.

more than you know. why would you ask such a dumb question? if you have nothing to contribute go back to playing tag with your monkey, boy.

 

[MP5]

even if you cloned an endangered animal, the problem would be that the new animal created would have the same genetics as the other so there would be a piss poor chance of healthy animals once they all start inbreeding amongst themselves again.

 

[epimetheus]

ok, i did'nt think of the breeding issue, i was more into thinking of mass production to feed people.

i can't wait to see people here talking about cloning marijiuana, lol.

Cloning isn't like in the movies where the creature cloned grows in some vat in a few hours.
Cloning is just like sexual reproduction, except the DNA(of the sperm&egg) is changed so that the creature has the same DNA as the original. So there would be no difference in cloning sheep/cows/etc, or letting them have giant Orgies.

Cloning things in that regard is pointless. Nobody wants to clone people or sheep so that we can have people or sheep that looks the same.. They want to clone hearts, lungs and organs that are going to be helpful. Cloning animals is just practice in getting the technique right.
People need to get better educated on what cloning really is instead of thinking they know what it is because they have watched a few sci-fi flicks.

 

[cockdezl]

Cloning isn't like in the movies where the creature cloned grows in some vat in a few hours.
Cloning is just like sexual reproduction, except the DNA(of the sperm&egg) is changed so that the creature has the same DNA as the original. So there would be no difference in cloning sheep/cows/etc, or letting them have giant Orgies.

Cloning things in that regard is pointless. Nobody wants to clone people or sheep so that we can have people or sheep that looks the same.. They want to clone hearts, lungs and organs that are going to be helpful. Cloning animals is just practice in getting the technique right.
People need to get better educated on what cloning really is instead of thinking they know what it is because they have watched a few sci-fi flicks.

This is currently how cloning is performed, but this may not be the preferred method. Using ex vivo techniques, like incubators or nutrient baths, or whatever, has an advantage of increased production and manipulation of environments. Trying to utilize women to carry, to full term, a human clone is extremely limiting.

This whole field will tax our concepts of individual freedoms and government control more than any other issue has in history. I do not look forward to the outcome knowing how humans think.

 

[Doktor Bollix]

with all the talk of cloning both for and against, i'm against cloning a person, i was thinking we could use it for bettering mankind.

That's nice and all but cloning technology will be used for profit. If there's no prospect of money in a given application it won't even be researched.

I think you are confusing the cloning issue with genetic engineering. All of our farm and domestic animals are genetically engineered. All of our fruits, vegetables etc are genetically egineered. This took place over thousands of generations of selective breeding to breed say cows that are really dumb and placid but have high milk yields. These animals could not survive in the wild. Cows are human creations, as natural as a car or a bicycle. Similarly all fruit was engineered for high fructose content and other traits. Genetic engineering helps humanity and is therefore a good thing.

The immediate problem for humanity is that in the modern world genetic information is property. Animals are patentable. In 1987 the U.S. patent authority, the PTO, ruled that all living things can be patented except human beings, because of the 13th amendment to the Constitution, which outlawed slavery.

Corporations can do what they want with their property without regard for how their product will function within communities of other organisms, affecting and being affected by the environment around them. The law of unintended consequences has potential to bite the human race majorly in the ass here. You engineer a bacteria to eat oil slicks and it mutates and destroys all oil on the planet thrusting us into a new dark ages and shit like that.

Not to mention that you will get your genome scanned and get denied health insurance and turned down for jobs and you won't be able to get laid etc like in Gattaca.

 

[cockdezl]

Re: Re: cloning idea

Not to mention that you will get your genome scanned and get denied health insurance and turned down for jobs and you won't be able to get laid etc like in Gattaca.

Science fiction writers tend to be some of our more insightful and forward thinkers. People like Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, etc.

 

[Doktor Bollix]

Re: Re: Re: cloning idea

Science fiction writers tend to be some of our more insightful and forward thinkers. People like Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, etc.

Word.

William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Kim Stanley Robinson, Neal Stephenson are my favorites. I like writers that deal in the nitty gritty of the near future. Your standard sc-fi post-apocalyptic blank slate seems like a bullshit cop out to me. Same with your universe far-away, far in the future (unless it's Frank Herbert or Iain M. Banks).

Just started reading 1984 again, after that it's Brave New World (again). Old school shit.