Growing up, I used to watch a lot of cartoons that had a science fiction element to them. Yea, I have remained the same over the years! Anyways, I used to love the futuristic technology they used to show.
From teleportation to anti-gravity machines, everything about those science fiction cartoons used to amaze me. Cloning technology was another one that I was in awe of as a child.
I remember thinking how efficient it would be to clone yourself and create like, two or three copies yourself and just distribute your work among them and you could just sit back and relax!
Now that I think about the concept as an adult, I see that it is not as simple as that and that there are several ethical and potentially dangerous sides to this tech if and when it becomes a reality.
Can This Even Happen?
Certainly! We are getting better and better with genetics and it is not too far-fetched at all to say that in the near future, we may very well have the ability to clone humans.
We already have the ability to clone animals and specific organs, although we are not that efficient at all in doing so. Still, as the years pass, it is natural for us to get better at this.
As for the question of human cloning, it can get really complicated. Yes, science wise, I don't see any reason to believe that it will be impossible. Sooner or later we could make it as efficient as they show in movies.
But since there are many societal and legal factora involved regarding humans, there could be a lot of hurdles and delays for this tech to become a reality. I mean, many countries of the world have outright banned research in this field!
Dilemmas And Ethical Questions
The very first question that we need to consider about any tech is its purpose. What would the purpose of a human clone be? Not so easy to answer that, is it?
Then there are several complicated situations, some of which, let me quickly ask. Say, a clone tries to take over your life and eliminate you, how would the legality of that work? You would essentially be killing yourself. Would the world be indifferent to it, since both of you are the same anyways?
Another situation is when you are in a relationship and say your clone cheats. Would that mean you also cheated or could potentially do so as your clone did it too? Or would such a thing be normal and not at all counted as cheating because that clone is also an individual with feelings and rights!
If your clone commits a crime, who would be responsible? What if some crazy person secretly creates an army of clones to take over the world? You may laugh about it now but such a thing could happen!
There are tons of other examples that I'm sure you are thinking of right now as you read this which makes the whole human cloning thing a bit too weird, personally speaking, even though there are so many benefits of the same. I hope we as a race, choose wisely.