[extropy-chat] Pro-cloning talking point

[Adrian Tymes]

In a debate on another forum - usually a fairly
mundane one (neither very luddite nor very
transhumanist, so far as I can tell) - I made the
following argument in defense of cloning research, in
retaliation to religious "we should not play God"
comments.  I expected to get shouted down, but since I
posted it, I've been getting little but praise; those
who were arguing the other side saw the point, and the
only negative comment was a confusion between the
morality of doing nothing (or less than the maximum
possible, like spending time participating in this
debate instead of doing the research 24/7) vs. the
morality of actively opposing something.

So I figure, if I offer it here, maybe it can help
inform other talking points on this and similar
issues, both in content and in style.  I'm not sure
whether this is just ego, or if I truly have stumbled
across a not widely used but effective meme
propigation style.

---

My position is the same as most of those posted here,
but a bit more extreme.

Theraputic cloning almost definitely will save lives.
Research into reproductive cloning is likely to, at
the least, improve our understanding of human natal
processes, thus resulting in better care for
non-cloned newborns.  And so forth.  Therefore, those
who oppose cloning for no other reason than a belief
that God is against it, have on their hands the blood
of all those who will suffer and die due to things
that cloning research - if it happened faster without
their objections - would have prevented.  In short,
they are murderers.

Yes, that's right.  Murderers.  A lesser form,
perhaps, because they are distanced from the event and
they almost certainly do not themselves see what their
actions will reap.  (Those whom I've seen come to
understand this cause and effect, have almost
universally repented their errant belief shortly
thereafter.)  But it is still the same sin as defined
by their own religious texts.

If God exists, it looks like we were created in order
to "play God" - i.e., to further God's intent, with
the tools God gave us. (Personally, I'm not sure there
is a divine entity.  I'm just saying, if there is,
then given what has been revealed to us thus far...)

That said...at the moment, any attempts at
reproductive cloning would almost definitely produce
extreme birth defects, and that's among the few cloned
embryos that survived long enough to be born.  So
reproductive cloning is not a good idea right now.
Once research is done to change that situation,
though, it becomes just another type of artificial
fertility treatment, much like in vitro fertilization
(which it makes used of) and surrogate wombs.  On the
other hand, the research itself - even research
explicitly aimed towards reproductive cloning - is not
a bad thing.