Freakin Weird Blog

August 8, 2005
The Clone Wars

It was the great French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre who uttered the words "Hell Is Other People." For a man who never had the pleasure of riding on a rush-hour New York City commuter train, or who never waited in line at a Krispy Kreme when the red neon light is glowing, this was quite a prophetic statement.

But I have to find myself agreeing with him. People are generally a very annoying species, and these days it's becoming crystal clear that there are just too many of them.

With that in mind, I got ever-so-slightly edgy when I read how a South Korean company has "produced" the world's first cloned dog. Snuppy the pooch was created after scientists used skin cells taken from the ear of a three-year-old Afghan hound called Tai to create multiple embryos.

In a quote that could have been taken right out of a 50 Cent record, the journal NATURE reported that the South Korean team had transplanted more than 1,000 embryos into 123 bitches. Out of the three resulting pregnancies, one was successful and dear Snuppy was born.

The vocal majority who oppose cloning tend to be against it on moral grounds, but another argument that's often touted is the danger of a crazed dictator like Adolf Hitler, or Saddam Hussein cloning himself and plunging the world into war and chaos. But that's not why it worries me. I'm concerned about something far closer to home. I'm worried that the man on the train who chews gum like a dribbling camel is going to clone himself. Or the woman who sits next to me on the bus and shouts Italian recipes down her mobile phone. Or the 17-year-old mother who's ramming my shins with the front of her baby carriage.

If ordinary people decided to clone ourselves, we're going to really be in trouble. A world full of multiple Franks, Daves, Sharons and Erics is far more worrisome than a couple of Iraqi dictators with moustaches. We need to nip this madness in the bud now, otherwise we're going to be clone out of luck.

posted by Dr. Wei, PhD 15:00 E-MAIL THIS POST