Humans are constantly pushing the limits of their power in genetic engineering in an effort to circumvent natural processes. Are these efforts motivated by a desire to acquire Creator-like abilities? The scientists in films on the topic are often portrayed as having god complexes.
There are plenty of films about cloning:
Replicas,
Gemini Man,
Closer to God, and so on. Many of us have seen
Jurassic Park, where scientists figured out how to re-birth dinosaurs. While growing dinosaurs seems far in the future, researchers today have been successful with certain artificial cloning experiments. In 1996, Dolly the sheep, the first successfully cloned mammal, was born.
But what does cloning say about the sanctity of new life? If you clone your dead dog, is the clone truly the same as your original companion? The idea of cloning is somewhat analogous to Benjamin Walter’s concept of that art loses meaning in the age of reproduction. If you can keep replicating your dog, does the original retain any significance?
These questions remind me of the novel
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer in which a young boy discovers that he is the clone of a powerful drug lord El Patron. The boy, treated like an animal through much of the novel, realizes that his organs will soon be harvested to be transplanted into the aging El Patron. The ethical issues here are obvious, and it could be where reality is headed. With the growing power of scientific knowledge in the field, we must be cautious of what should and should not be done.
Images from top to bottom: cloning fact sheet, Dolly the sheep, House of the Scorpion book cover
Works Cited:
Ayala, Francisco J. “Cloning Humans? Biological, Ethical, and Social Considerations.” PNAS, National Academy of Sciences, 21 July 2015, www.pnas.org/content/112/29/8879.
Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, 1936.
“Cloning Fact Sheet.” Genome.gov, www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Cloning-Fact-Sheet.
“Dolly the Sheep Becomes First Successfully Cloned Mammal.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Feb. 2010, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-successful-cloning-of-a-mammal#:~:text=On%20July%205%2C%201996%2C%20Dolly,the%20Roslin%20Institute%20in%20Scotland.
Farmer, Nancy. The House of the Scorpion. Simon & Schuster Children's, 2013.
“Organs Made to Order.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Aug. 2010, www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/organs-made-to-order-863675/.
Spielberg, Steven, director. Jurassic Park. 1993.
Wikipedia contributors. "Dolly (sheep)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 5 May. 2021. Web. 8 May. 2021.
Hello rafeal, I really liked how you talked about the biotech art aspect of the desma class and I like how you expanded upon it. I liked how you talked about the house of the scorpion and how it connected to the course we learned throughout the week of the course. You really connected it to the material we learned this week and I like how you elaborated upon on it. Overall Great job Rafael.
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