Brave New World And The Implications Of Cloning
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Cloning is no longer a thing of science fiction- it is the presents most controversial issue. Cloning is complex and involves many people and machines. First, a suitable embryo donor must be found. Once a doctor has obtained the egg, he or she will give it to an expert in cloning who will develop the fetus, or underdeveloped baby from the DNA of a live animal, in a laboratory and finally clone it. Cloning, if legalized, would be used primarily for medical purposes. In particular, cloning humans for the organs they would offer gives patients in need of an organ transplant a new lease on life (Original Equipment Replacement Body). Scientists even produced a headless frog, and if the same technology was applied to cloning, the clones wouldnt be able to tell that their organs were being used. Many people are passionately speaking out against these man made humans, asking the hard answered question- how much will humanity be willing to change for the sake of science?
There are three main views that a majority of people hold that would have to change before cloning is legalized. First, opinions on government and authority would be forced to go through a huge metamorphosis. Second, the consensus slant on human rights would need to adapt and finally, religious beliefs would have to be disregarded altogether.
In modern day America, there are more effective medicines for nearly all maladies than ever before. But even now, in this golden age of medicine, some cures still elude doctors and by simply perusing a newspaper, one can see that research is constantly being done.
Depending on the illness, sometimes an organ transplant is required, which is problematic in itself. Thousands of people die per year (Perilous Pursuits of Stem Cell Research) because of shortages of the correct kind of organ. In 1998, a doctor came up with a controversial solution that scientists, Christians, and politicians have been fighting bitterly since it was first proposed. The idea is clone an embryo for its organs to satisfy the demand of organs for transplantation. Some scientists insist that the embryos are not sentient human beings and would not be able to tell they were being cloned, while a sick patient would be fully aware that he or she was drying (Kristol). Creationists, however, are concerned that scientists, by creating clones, are playing God to them. Human rights activists, whether religion is involved or not, are also against the cloning (Galluzi). Politicians are divided between liberals, who emphasize the good cloning will do for society and conservatives, who are vehemently against for reasons of ethics and morals (Perilous Pursuits of Stem Cell Research). Also, one has to ask whether what we are going to give up by cloning embryos really worth saving lives. Is sacrificing parenthood and religion really worth it? Only time will tell. In the meantime, embryonic cloning is still illegal and debate is still raging in Congress. It is still difficult to tell which side will win out in the end.
In Aldous Huxleys controversial novel Brave New World, people are constantly working to achieve stability. Wasted labor is frowned upon and everything, including even the production of humans, has been perfected for maximum productivity. Using Bokanovskys Process and Podsnaps Technique (Huxley 13-14), this fictional society mass-produces people. The government approved conditioning teaches the people to look down upon families and religion.
In Huxleys World, his Forship Mustapha Mond is the ultimate power. He is a world controller, an Alpha plus plus and everyone is conditioned not to question his authority (Huxley 34). This absolute power is a huge factor in keeping Brave New World stable and thus is the driving force behind embryo cloning.
Families are considered smut in Brave New World. With embryos being mass-produced in a factory, viviparous mothers are obsolete. Any want of kin or home life is erased from all peoples instincts at an early age through conditioning (23). Religion is also outdated. Solitary Services are the closest thing to a belief system in Brave New World. Everyone scheduled to attend one of these services uses soma, a drug erasing all unpleasant emotions, to communicate with long dead Henry Ford during the ceremony. Any sort of religion that encourages pain such as Christianity has been extinguished.
The cloning of embryos, leading to a complete lack of individuality, also has an effect on people. The eggs, before being cloned, are inspected for flaws or abnormalities and are discarded if something is wrong. Because of this purgatory, all citizens of Brave New World are perfect in appearance. Anyone with difference, be it height, weight, and any personality defects are treated as outsiders (70).
Brave New World was written by Aldous Huxley as a warning for what might happen if humanity continues down the “wrong” path. The unnerving accuracy in his novel just goes to show how vital that warning was how we humans heeded it. For something written in 1932, the Brave New Worlds fictional