Attack of the Cloned Goats
Posted on
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
by Gary A. Ballard
So Raging Douchebag Week got cut short and it's been a quiet month on this blog. Bruce Sterling linked a story involving cloned goats on my Twitter this morning, and I felt the need to share. Not just goats being cloned, but an extinct species of goat being cloned from frozen skin cells. We can rebuild them. We have the technology. Of course, they die shortly after birth from defective lung cells, but it's a positive start to a very promising set of research.
I'm certainly not naive enough to think that cloning animals or humans is without ethical conundrums. Would clones have souls? Is it ethical to clone entire flocks of animals merely for food stocks or manual labor? Would cloning a human and forcing him to work be slavery? And of course, do all clones look like Jango Fett but shoot like Barney Fife? Could a single parent make a clone of themselves in lieu of having a child by another person, and would that clone be a child or a creepy freak killer with a head like the Burger King?
The thought of human cloning scares the bejeebus out of anti-abortionists, mainly because it changes the discussion on the magical act of conception. And who wouldn't be freaked out by a fully-functioning clone of themselves - bearing in mind that a clone who was born as an infant would likely turn into a different person if we are to believe that environment shapes personality more than heredity.
What if we could clone ourselves, accelerate the clone's life cycle to the age we wanted to be, then transfer consciousness into the clone? Would that be murder or would we consider a cloned body without a lifetime of environmental stimuli an actual person or mere genetic property?
Cloning is a fantastic concept rife with horrible potential for abuse by the shuffling mass of stupidity that is humanity. I'm overjoyed that scientists are attempting to perfect the techniques. My only hope is that they consider the ethical questions - not just can we do this, but should we? And if the answer to the latter question is yes, how should we proceed? Give me your thoughts on cloning.
I'm certainly not naive enough to think that cloning animals or humans is without ethical conundrums. Would clones have souls? Is it ethical to clone entire flocks of animals merely for food stocks or manual labor? Would cloning a human and forcing him to work be slavery? And of course, do all clones look like Jango Fett but shoot like Barney Fife? Could a single parent make a clone of themselves in lieu of having a child by another person, and would that clone be a child or a creepy freak killer with a head like the Burger King?
The thought of human cloning scares the bejeebus out of anti-abortionists, mainly because it changes the discussion on the magical act of conception. And who wouldn't be freaked out by a fully-functioning clone of themselves - bearing in mind that a clone who was born as an infant would likely turn into a different person if we are to believe that environment shapes personality more than heredity.
What if we could clone ourselves, accelerate the clone's life cycle to the age we wanted to be, then transfer consciousness into the clone? Would that be murder or would we consider a cloned body without a lifetime of environmental stimuli an actual person or mere genetic property?
Cloning is a fantastic concept rife with horrible potential for abuse by the shuffling mass of stupidity that is humanity. I'm overjoyed that scientists are attempting to perfect the techniques. My only hope is that they consider the ethical questions - not just can we do this, but should we? And if the answer to the latter question is yes, how should we proceed? Give me your thoughts on cloning.
Labels: Science, Science-Fiction
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 8:43 AM
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I, For One, Welcome Our New Cybernetic Monkey Overlords
Posted on
Thursday, May 29, 2008
by Gary A. Ballard
This story is an amazing little morsel. Scientists have gotten monkeys to control a mechanical prosthetic arm with their minds. A tiny grid of electrodes placed on the monkey's motor cortex allows the monkey to use a prosthetic arm to feed himself when offered bits of food. The monkeys learned to use the arm so well, they were able to adapt to changing situations such as the food sticking to the hand and act accordingly.
As a writer of speculative cyberpunk fiction, the idea of controlling prosthetics with brain implants has long been theorized. These kinds of experiments prove that the idea is possible, and only requires the passing of technological hurdles to be effective. Of course, this is only monkeys and not humans, but in conjunction with other discoveries such as Dean Kamen's Luke arm, one can certainly envision commerically viable cybernetic prosthetics in a matter of one or two decades. Bring on the cybermonkeys!
As a writer of speculative cyberpunk fiction, the idea of controlling prosthetics with brain implants has long been theorized. These kinds of experiments prove that the idea is possible, and only requires the passing of technological hurdles to be effective. Of course, this is only monkeys and not humans, but in conjunction with other discoveries such as Dean Kamen's Luke arm, one can certainly envision commerically viable cybernetic prosthetics in a matter of one or two decades. Bring on the cybermonkeys!
Labels: Cyberpunk, Science, Science-Fiction
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 9:40 AM
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