The idea of cloning has been in the spotlight since we had the first cloned sheep named "Dolly". Since then we have only been answering the ethical/moral question about whether we should really clone. I have, here used my keen interest and attachment to fictional stories (Never let me go and the island) to tackle this question in a new way.
How do fictional stories about cloning help us answer the question, “Should we clone?”
Cloning is not itself a bad idea but it is the manipulation of the idea by present media that portrays it as an evil thing. In both ‘never let me go’ and ‘the island’ the writers present similar dilemma of whether using clones merely for the purpose of donations help in creating a utopian society while emphasizing the lens of the clones themselves that we normal people often seem to hardly consider. Clones are not something that we can treat as animals in the animal farm which are taken to slaughterhouse for the meat. What we have currently discovered is the path that most probably will lead to successful cloning of humans. But since the experiment has only been only been done on animals and not humans (even though there are hoax and false claims) it would be hard to predict about their consciousness and intelligence. This might be well compared to the Artificial Intelligence problem that we are currently facing. According to Nick Bolstrom, an expert in Artificial Intelligence, we are having to face this challenge of thinking about how the intelligent machines might be ‘tamed’ in the absence of something that we can test on. We are constantly challenged by similar notion in cloning as well. There are several questions that arise as we discuss the implications of it in the future. And experts constantly fear that people would clone humans before experts actually come up with the solution to this specific control problem that involves the rights as well as values of the clones in our society. The idea conveyed in the two movies push us to think about what actually defines the identity of a being. If it is the creation process, then should not test tube babies be treated the same way as clones as both involve a laboratory work. There has not been a consensus on the controversial issue of determining the moral status of a human embryo. Both the stories establish a central idea that the genetics are not the most important part of one’s personalities. It is the environment and experiences that collectively form and shape one’s personality. In ‘The Island’, L6E attaches his bracelet on Tom and which deceives the hunters forcing them to shoot Tom. This is an example of the how clones can grow to be just like us through experiences. This is one of the scenarios that might depict clones as evil but using just that evidence would just be a hasty generalization. However, to have a concrete stance on the claim that clones might deceive to be the original person and pose a threat to humanity, we need to have further information. It would require research on the differences of the thinking processes of the humans and the clones. The data thus obtained can be used to run a simulation of how cloning can affect humans in the future years. On the other hand, after watching the fictional stories people might argue that if people have rights to take life (carry out an abortion) they why not to create one through cloning. There is no problem with creating it but the problem with how it will be treated and ethics and moral that we abide by apply to it. From a medical standpoint, whose first principle is “do not harm”, using clones just for the sake of organ transplant would go against the principle itself. The fiction world created in the stories are important in the overall scientific development. Both the stories make us pause and think about all the things that could go wrong with clones. We should not blindly get into it but use it as a tool to develop solutions to the control problem.
References:
Bostrom, N. (in press). Superintelligence: Paths, dangers, strategies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cloning - Do It, or Don't Do It? (n.d.). Retrieved December 21, 2015, from http://www.washington.edu/doit/cloning-do-it-or-dont-do-it
PCBE: Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry -- Full Report. (n.d.). Retrieved December 21, 2015, from https://bioethicsarchive.georgetown.edu/pcbe/reports/cloningreport/overview.html