Clones for human parts

The idea came from watching the Island. Would you approve of the use of cloning technology in the future to make clones of yourself so that they can be used for harvesting human parts in case you'd need one someday, much like a living insurance policy?

The clones can/will die, since you would be harvesting the heart, kidney, skin, bone marrow basically everything in a human body. And assuming this can without a doubt extend your life, will you go for it?

Ref: The clones will be rapidly aged to match your needs. It is legal. They will be stored in a decent controlled facility and allowed to live like normal folks til its time, much like cattle being prep'd for slaughtering.

Of course I do. What better way to shut up health nuts who keep yelling at people to stop smoking and drinking and the like? Seriously how great would this be?

"You know you shouldn't smoke, it's bad for your lungs."

"Oh it's ok, I have a spare set at home in case these ever go bad."

"Oh...ummm...can I have one?"

"Sure."

I would be entirely behind the idea if we could ever get a cloned human cell to divide more than 7 times. It would help a lot if someone needed an organ or needed blood.

Although, there would be some downsides. I believe that if people knew they had a clone that had any "spare parts" that they needed, people would start living much more dangerous lifestyles.

The only problem is that you would get a bunch of religious fanatics against the idea.

Great topic, you really got me thinking about that one =)

Edit: After posting, i noticed the guy above me says the same thing that i said in my second paragraph :)

I against the idea of fully living humans clones who will be killed to save you.

I think that a clone of a human is still a human inside. They also will still have a conscious mind meaning that they are still fully aware of their enviroment.

Essentially it will be like killing yourself to save yourself.

However i believe that stem cell research is the way forward and very useful... maybe if we could find a way of growing organs in a test tube form instead using stem cells would be a better idea than using a fully human clone? :S

As for living dangerously and in an unhealthy manner, yes you may if ever right? These are not illegal, and you of course will be paying for your clone with your own money. We get to experience life to the fullest, logically I hope and not like that guy who split his head in two coz i dont think you can replace that with parts.

Makes me think as well of scientists who couldve discovered more technologies that are helpful to us but died

Yes it is true as well, that a lot of religious groups would not approve and are hindering the progress and full potential of this branch of science. I believe it is legal in the US atleast, stem cell and cloning research, but with restrictions that Im not familiar with.

Maybe its selfish but I want to live longer and I dont want to die when I couldve been saved or those that I care for...

Don't support it. Also don't support digital "copying"/"dubbing", "uploading" or anything that doesn't move the original consciousness itself (only data in the brain).

It doesn't matter if they have the same genes as you (so does your twin). It doesn't matter even if they have the same memories or synapses artificially created in their brain. They're still a different person and therefore you should have no power over them.

However I support human stem cell and cloning research. At one point it won't be necessary to create a whole body just to create a spare organ. Also stem cells and embryos aren't persons. They don't have a brain, they don't feel. Using them for research is no different than using any other tissue. The one difference is that your genetic information is yours and should be protected.

The only argument that has *any* validity against stem cell research is that a fetus could grow into a human being. That's not as likely as we'd think: God's apparently an abortionist, since about 1/2-2/3 of natural conceptions end in a miscarriage.

People die. It's a fact of life, and it's not going to change anytime soon, if ever. Running from this face will cause you nothing but pain.

Harvesting parts from living clones? How can that be anything other than running from death? If we could just clone singular parts, that'd be one thing, but willful murder for the sake of continued life? That's horrible.

I imagine the best way to destroy the human race would be to somehow make it so that a person could live ten years longer if they ate the heart of a living person. Everybody would kill each other, wanting to live forever.

I would but not if they were walking around talking and actually having a brain like in the island. I also believe that you cab't replace the brain cuz the brain is you.
P.S. The island was a good movie

As it is no problem giving them a lobotomy and essentially making them happy cattle, then I have no problem with it.
The catch here is that the CANNOT be self aware, since that would be cruel. So they have to be brain dead for me to accept it.

I put yes, but I'm in between.

Sure, go for it. Clone all the body parts that you need, but do you really need to keep an exact copy of yourself? Why not just clone the part you need instead of cloning yourself and having it live. Then killing it to use the parts. I'm sure that scientists will be able to clone just parts and not an entire person.

Well, the idea on the movie was theyre allowed to live like normal human beings coz it reduces the failure rate of the organs after transplant.

Well I guess one reason why its ok to have a clone vs growing parts is, you'll never know what part youd need and when. If the clone is there, theres no wait time to grow it, just take him/her ot the lab and take the part whatever it is - aside from the brain I guess. Like an accident for example.

The one thing that came to my mind was the book "House of The Scropion" Since clones werent really humans they cant own property, they cant have names, and their minds are destroyed at birth, since it would be considered cruel to allow a clone to live and learn about everything in life only to find out he's basically cattle waiting to be taken appart in order to keep a frail old man alive...

Anyway yeah I dont really agree with doing this ever... but still... If it will be able to be done then of course some people WILL do it...

Also let me recommend House of The Scorpion a really good book...

Keeping backups of different organs sure(heck, a headless clone i would even be willing to accept since they wouldn't have any intelligence or self awareness) but making living breathing clones who's sole purpose is to die just for the sake of extending a persons life is too much for me.

You don't need to clone whole people for this, there's processes in development right now that allow you to grow organs in a test tube. :|

Yup. I agree with this.


P.S. Love your avi.

The clones should be born unconscious, that would make the dilemma of having to kill humans for spare parts less harrowing as you'd just be killing vegetables for organs.

Anyway, the whole reason behind growing live and fully aware humans in "the Island" was to invoke a bit of cloning blues, and to have protagonists that we are able to sympathize with (even though they weren't likable).

"I am all of me"

What does that tell you?
Even clones are a different entity compared to the real one.
I always believed life to be another obstacle in the way and it to be just a 'movie' an experience if you say.
Clones are no more less different.
They have minds to feel, think and remember. We are not them and they are not us.

Imagine going up to a exact opposite of yourself and ask, "Hey, can I rip your heart out? I need a new one."
If you were the clone, how will you react? "Damn it no?" More like the fake has no choice and is forced by the world.

It's sad, I don't approve cloning humans, but matter such as decreasing resources like water has a different concept.

Remember. Clones are an exact copy. If that's the case, it can take over the original as well.

You know, there's a plot thread in Mass Effect that's similar to this. :|

I saw a program on the discovery channel about cloning and that kind of stuff. In there they mentioned an idea of making organs using a printer like device.