December 31, 2002
UNANSWERED ARGUMENTS:
DON'T BAN CLONING (Instapundit, 12/30/02)I keep waiting for some clear explanation of why cloning is so awful that it must be banned, but nothing I've heard really gets much past the "it gives me the willies" argument. Which isn't an argument at all.
One can never fail to admire his chutzpah, but following our review of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark are an entire series of objections--medical, moral, legal, etc.--that the good Professor couldn't answer in any coherent fashion a year ago and that I don't think he's answered since.
MORE:
-REVIEW: of Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of The Biotechnology Revolution (2002) (Francis Fukuyama 1952-)(Grade: A)
Another good response to whole animal cloning is at:
">http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110002842
Essentially, you don't get anything better and you probably will get something worse than the original.
Considering Glenn is apparently lumping organ regeneration into the same bag as whole organism cloning, his arguments are far from logical or even well poised in their assumptions and definitions.
His chutzpah is indeed rather amazing. There have been a whole series of articles by Ramesh Ponnuru on National Review Online discussing the issue-- and from a purely rational, non-religious standpoint, since he'd apparently like that sort of thing. There certainly are well-reasoned arguments out there, and one is free to agree or disagree as one wills.
Yet Glenn would rather stick his head in the sand, pretend not to hear opposing arguments, and then claim that they don't exist or haven't been made. All along, he's only refused to listen. (I know that he's aware of the articles, he just won't read them.)
If he claims to not even be familiar with an objection from pro-life principles, then he's either a liar or an idiot.
The best argument I know of is that even if cloning becomes perfected to where it's a no hassle operation, the commonality of genes that would result could leave humanity vulnerable one day to a disease that those genes aren't adapted to. Nature builds a certain amount of variety into every species, and it best not to tinker with that formula.
Of course, sooner or later, someone will do just that. C'est l'homme.