human cloning an apathetic view

SCIENCE, VOL. 201 p 572

Human Cloning: An Apathetic View Doomsday predictions of the out- comes of scientific research tend to over- look the social variables that intervene

between the availability of a new technology and its widespread adoption. Projections of the impact of novel technologies may therefore be naive and sim- Clone Limited might well try a more re- plistic. For example, the advent of clonal stricted market, turning out copies of W E reproduction of life forms almost imme-diately raised spectres of the mass production of armies of identical human neonates. I will briefly demonstrate the ceptional humans could be expected to A N SW ER relevance of some social factors to the be more productive than worker clones, impact of research on the cloning of human being the storm troopers are not genetically between the availability of a new tech nology and its widespread adoption. Pro- identical? jections of the impact of novel tech- Having failed in mass merchandising, nologies may therefore be naive and sim- Clone Limited might well try a more re- plistic. For example, the advent of clonal stricted market, turning out copies of W E reproduction of life forms almost imme- such elite human beings as Margaret diately raised spectres of the mass pro- Mead, Artur Rubenstein, Marilyn Mon- duction of armies of identical human roe, or Sandy Koufax. These ex- neonates. I will briefly demonstrate the ceptional humans could be expected to A N SW ER relevance of some social factors to the be more productive than worker clones, impact of research on the cloning of hu- promising returns commensurate with man being

between the availability of a new tech- the storm troopers are not genetically nology and its widespread adoption. Pro- identical? jections of the impact of novel tech- Having failed in mass merchandising, nologies may therefore be naive and sim- Clone Limited might well try a more re- plistic. For example, the advent of clonal stricted market, turning out copies of W E reproduction of life forms almost imme- such elite human beings as Margaret diately raised spectres of the mass pro- Mead, Artur Rubenstein, Marilyn Mon- duction of armies of identical human roe, or Sandy Koufax. These ex- neonates. I will briefly demonstrate the ceptional humans could be expected to A N SW ER relevance of some social factors to the be more productive than worker clones, impact of research on the cloning of hu- promising returns commensurate with man beings. the costs of their production. Merely re- Adoption of any technique is unlikely duplicating the genetic material of a gen- Y O U R plishing the same end. Anthropological subsequent growth and development. if there is a less costly means of accom- ius does not solve the riddle of his or her of the spread of industrial tech- Obviously we do not want to exactly re- in peasant societies indicate that duplicate the adult genius (it would do no IN STiiN T based on a remarkably rational balancing 1999 reveal that man was descended assessment of cost-effectiveness is good to have an adult Charles Darwin in of costs and benefits. For cloning of hu- from the apes). What we wish is to pre- mans to become widespread, some clear serve those exceptional qualities that led PIC TU R E found which would outweigh the consid- The problems outlined above are advantage of standardization must be these persons to be so successful. erable cost of manufacturing human ceptible to solutions based on psycholog- IlI1IIID l. beings. ical research and experimentation. If one 1}3j4JjjJjJ Suppose that a corporation, Clone assumes advances in psychology and so- ?NSTANTLY. Limited, desires to mass produce 1 mil- ciology, one faces the problems of alter- lion John Waynes and sell them to the native solutions to the problem of gen- U.S. Army, along with ten cloned Bob ius. There is no shortage of naturally oc- Hopes to staff USO tours. The immedi- curring genius. If only .015 percent of in- ate problem facing the corporation is the fants are potential geniuses, a minimum That's what our Technical Assis- cutthroat competition of natural parents, of 500 each year await discovery in the tance Service is all about. Make who are producing nearly 4 million neo- United States. Investment in psychologi- one toll free call, and we'll find nates a year at no cost to the govern- cal testing research on a scale com- answers for your instant picture ment. The investment of tens of thou- parable to the basic research needed for questions and provide immediate sands of dollars and thousands of hours cloning would produce comparable re- application assistance; or tell you of child care is necessary to create an 18- sults at less cost. about our instant photographic year-old. The benefits of producing Even if cloned geniuses were available systems and our 15 types of pro- shoes all of the same size for the clonal at low cost, the question of their social fessional instant film; or arrange army would not outweigh the costs. impact remains problematic. Those who a demonstration at your facility. Faith in economics of scale should not foresee the breeding of master races of It's free. Polaroid? convince us that clones would be cheap Einsteins and Fermis tacitly base their to produce. Medical procedures are projections on a great man theory of his- among the most rapidly inflating costs in tory, a social theory seriously weakened the economy. Foster mothers for cloned by extensive criticism. Once we recog- ova would presumably demand com- nize that intellectuals are subject to the pensation. If artificial uteri were em- restraints of their milieu, the idea that we ployed, the capital investment required can significantly affect the course of his- to produce large numbers of clones tory by judicious breeding is seen in its would be staggering, proper perspective. An extraordinarily Many advantages of standardization expensive program of cloning could, per- are available by nongenetic techniques. haps, double the number of geniuses in In Brave New World Aldous Huxley's the country. They could join the ranks of scientists bred a race of retardates to the thousands of unemployed biologists, serve in menial jobs such as running ele- chemists, historians, and anthropologists vators. Modem self-service elevators il- around us today. lustrate that such ohs can be automated A similar disillusionment awaits the J?JIE at a much lower cost. mad millionaire who seeks to perpetuate TOLL uniformity can be achieved himself by cloning. He will be con- without the expense of genetic manipula- fronted by an offspring whose early "HOTLINE" tion. Documentary films of the 1930's childhood experience, peer relation- 800-225-1618 show citizens of an advanced nation ships, life style, and points of view make marching in lockstep, raising their arms him a stranger to his parent. (In Massachusetts, call collect: at identical angles, and methodically JOHN J. SWETNAM 617-547-5177) murdering defenseless fellow-citizens. Department ofAnthropology, What we see in these films are "behav- University of Nevada,