Rattle wrote:

] On the other side, I really hope they are not full of shit,
] and have sucessfuly done it. I really like the idea of the
] history books reading that the first human clone was created
] by a nutty group of loons with dreams of immortality who
] thought that humans were genetically engineered by aliens.

The problem is that this sends a really bad message about cloning. This baby, if real, is probably going to be fucked up. People looking for an excuse to ban genetic engineering (some of whom have reasons that are no more realistic then those of this Alien group) will hold up this poor child as an example of the bad things that happen when you screw with genetics.

It is wrong to take poorly understood genetic techniques and apply them to a real human being. Its mad science, in the English sense. Its science that hurts people.

We are increasingly in an environment where alarmist, reactionary thinking rules the day. Look at the Stock Market. Thats people betting AGAINST future growth in this country. Take Bill Joy, Fukuyama, and the DMCA, throw in 19 terrorists and this Alien group... shaken, not stirred. We may be heading toward a dark time, when certain kinds of thoughts, explorations, and considerations, are simply not allowed in the light of day, and must occur under a shrowd of secrecy regardless of how responsible they are. I kept hearing that theory from everyone at Defcon. I discounted it, but it is a distinct possibility.

RE: Cloned humans, aliens, and history books