Somebody just cloned a girl

[hblair]

You guys catching this on CNN? "Clonaid" (who are they?) claims they have cloned a little girl and are "happy" with the results. I hope the little girl is happy with her choice of being cloned. Oh yeah, she didn't choose to be...

[hblair]

StSanta or any other progressive thinking science boy, why would someone want to clone another person? Is there a reason someone would want to do this? I mean other than just so they could say they did it...

[nuchpatrick]

Old news.. heard this yesterday.  The clone is of a unknown woman in her 40's that donated the DNA aparently..

If this is true I want a clone of myself so i can send the other half to work.. this would mean I can fly all day hehehe:D

[takeda]

They have done it (if true, I don't know), because they are a bunch of wacko cultists of the self acclaimed world's largest UFO religion: http://www.rael.org (site seems down).

They have funded italian Dr. Severino Antinori (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1477698.stm)  to do it.

IMHO, nothing wrong in cloning per-se, it's just a reproduction method, but sure opens a big juicy can of fat worms about possible misuses.

[Erlkonig]

Twins don't have much say in the matter of being cloned, now do they?  Come to think of it, nobody has much say in the matter of being born.  Who knew!

[Gunthr]

These people are farther out there than I thought....
Here is why they want to clone:

Here

Something should be done about these screwballs

[Eagler]

A company associated with a group that believes extraterrestrials created mankind claimed Friday that it had produced the first clone of a human being.

The company, Clonaid, announced it had created a healthy baby girl who was a clone of the 31-year-old American woman who gave birth to her.


"I'm very very pleased to announce that the first baby clone is born," Clonaid director Brigitte Boisselier, a former research chemist in France, said at a news conference in Hollywood, north of Miami.


Boisselier, who offered no proof of her claim, said the girl was born Thursday at 11:55 a.m., but did not disclose where the cloning had taken place. She said results of genetic testing of the child by an independent expert would be available in eight to nine days.


Clonaid is viewed skeptically by most scientists, who doubt the group's technical ability to clone a human being. A Clonaid spokeswoman said an independent expert will confirm the baby is a clone through DNA testing.


Clonaid is linked to a sect called the Raelians, whose founder, Claude Vorihon, describes himself as a prophet and calls himself Rael. The group believes cloning could extend human life for hundreds of years.
=================================

[miko2d]

hblair: StSanta or any other progressive thinking science boy, why would someone want to clone another person? Is there a reason someone would want to do this? I mean other than just so they could say they did it...

 I am not sure if I qualify as a "progressive thinking science boy" but a few months ago we had an extensive discussion where I listed quite a few rational reasons for a parent to want a clone of himself or even of another person (his other child) rather than a natural "random" child.

 miko

[Innominate]

I REALLLY doubt it.

When a bunch of crackpots come out of the woodwork with such a huge claim, it's hard to believe it anything BUT a hoax.

They have no credentials, no history, EVERYTHING known about it is what has been said at press conferences.  On top of that they seem to be exceedingly gullible, and apparently assume(Probably correctly) that the rest of the world is too.

I find it pretty sad that the media is letting such vocal crackpots get on TV with nothing other than thier own claims of a human clone.

A bit more info can be found here.

[hblair]

Originally posted by Erlkonig
Twins don't have much say in the matter of being cloned, now do they?  Come to think of it, nobody has much say in the matter of being born.  Who knew!

One thing a natural conception guarantees is individuality (except in case of twins, etc). Whereas a clone is a clone eh? You're a living experiment. You'll continually be compared to somebody else for whatever reason. Just seems a little warped here...

[hawk220]

"I REALLLY doubt it.

When a bunch of crackpots come out of the woodwork with such a huge claim, it's hard to believe it anything BUT a hoax."



exactly.. just like those guys in Utah who claimed to have developed Cold Fusion...

[hblair]

miko, lemme guess, the main reason being to have an organ donor handy?

[Innominate]

Originally posted by hawk220

exactly.. just like those guys in Utah who claimed to have developed Cold Fusion...

I've developed a true working fusion reactor out of spare parts!  Everyone knows cold fusion is impossible, but normal "hot" fusion isn't!  It's been used in bombs and labs for years, but I've made it work to produce power!

Send me $15,000 for plans, and you too can have limitless power available from water which produces no harmfull byproducts!

[miko2d]

Innominate: I REALLLY doubt it.
When a bunch of crackpots come out of the woodwork with such a huge claim, it's hard to believe it anything BUT a hoax.

 Their money is as good as yours or mine and money they ahve plenty. Their credentials are irrelevant since they are not doing the cloning but subcidising the real scientists who have plenty of credentials.
 Their history is obscure by design - because they are a rather secretive sect.

 There are plenty of cases when "crackpots" with power or just money developed major things. Rocket science was developed in nazi Germany and spaceflight in Soviet Union.


and apparently assume(Probably correctly) that the rest of the world is too.

 Early christians, muslims, biddhists, etc. were too, apparently - and look where they are now! Billions of followers.

 Anyway, if a private organisation wants to spend their money developing knowlege or producing children in novel ways, why should anyone worry?


exactly.. just like those guys in Utah who claimed to have developed Cold Fusion...

 Did they convincingly demonstrate cold fusion on mice, cats and goats first?

 miko

[davidpt40]

Whats the big deal about being cloned?  Every single human on earth shares 86% of their DNA with every other human.  There is a mere 14% genetic difference between all humans.  

Genetics play a small part in shaping how humans develop.  A cloned person might not even look like the person he was cloned from because of blood and nutrient flow during prenatal development.

Cloning?  Not a big deal, anthropologists think sex and genetic diversity came about to help increase disease resistance.  Now genetic mutations are the big deal.  As long as we have that (and we always will), the human race will be ok.