Second Life

Second Life

New Scientist has some intriguing recent stories on particular fronts of research, including a discussion of the search for so-called ‘shadow life‘ — meaning, essentially,…

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What's in a Surename

What’s in a Surename

When I was growing up, my family would occasionally get a piece of junk mail inviting us to send off fifty bucks or so for…

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Cloning, Epilogue

Cloning, Epilogue

In an insightful essay (published in an excellent anthology edited by Martha Nussbaum and Cass Sunstein, which also includes other sources cited in this series…

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The new emperor's clones: Obama's refreshing but tepid embrace of reasoned sci/tech policy

The new emperor’s clones: Obama’s refreshing but tepid embrace of reasoned sci/tech policy

On 9 March, President Obama issued an executive order to lift hobbling restrictions on embryonic stem cell research imposed by his predecessor, George Bush. In…

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Cloning, part one: The ballad of bill S.812

Cloning, part one: The ballad of bill S.812

Two years before Obama’s executive order to rescind limits on stem cell research, Senator Orrin Hatch introduced bill S.812, the ‘Human Cloning Ban and Stem…

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Cloning, part two: Hearsay, hearsay!

Cloning, part two: Hearsay, hearsay!

The trouble started back in December 2002, when the BBC aired a documentary film that openly probed the tenets of a popular sect. The day…

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Cloning, part three: Eve

Cloning, part three: Eve

The same winter that saw controversy over the BBC documentary on Crispian Hollis’s sect, another claim was foisted on the world by another sect, who…

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Cloning, part four: Our genomes, ourselves

Cloning, part four: Our genomes, ourselves

Let’s start with the worn chestnut of identity. Ethicist Robert Williamson has posited ‘that there is a personal right, ethically based, to individuality, autonomy, and…

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Cloning, part five: Eugenics

Cloning, part five: Eugenics

But in assessing the fear that cloning will lead to eugenics, note that human mate choice is already eugenic. Lest you doubt, take an extreme…

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Cloning, part six: Poverty and exploitation

Cloning, part six: Poverty and exploitation

Reproductive cloning seems unlikely to spread quickly, of course. Costly services serve mainly rich folks, after all — and rich folks are rare (plus, sex…

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