Cloning, Society and Huxley

Paper Summary:

This paper relates that cloning as a scientific activity holds much promise in alleviating many of society's medical issues. The paper examines the concept of cloning in Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" and shows how cloning today as a medical and scientific activity is far from Huxley's vision of a world of human duplicates. The paper maintains that cloning human beings is not being advocated by anyone in the scientific community and it was Huxley who moved the public psyche to associate cloning with carbon copy human beings. The paper accuses the public of mania and emphasizes that the vast majority of cloning research is concerned only with cloning single cells and tissues associated with treating specific diseases and illnesses.

From the Paper:

"Supporters of cloning have a substantial amount of sound scientific evidence as well as a surfeit of informal evidence that establishes a case for active research in cloning. Unfortunately, the concept of cloning received short shrift in Huxley's Brave New World where the author moved cloning in the public consciousness from the mere conceptual to the livid by by-passing the scientific process completely. That is, where in reality cloning full-blown human beings is not being advocated by anyone in the scientific community, Huxley moved the public psyche from the idea to associating cloning with carbon copy human beings who would somehow be devoid of human qualities but desire them none-the-less: "But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin." (288). Thus, the entire research process and the simple development of cloned tissues used in treating various illnesses and afflictions, for example, were by-passed and suddenly cloning was equated with moral reprehensibility. Yet, the reality is that cloning as a medical and scientific activity is far less romanticized as a human activity that popping out human duplicates left and right."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Andreasen, Nancy C. Brave New Brain: Conquering Mental Illness in the Era of the Genome. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
• Bender, Leslie. "Genes, Parents, and Assisted Reproductive Technologies: Arts, Mistakes, Sex, Race, & Law." Columbia Journal of Gender and Law 12.1 (2003): 1+.
• Berson, Michael J., and Barbara Cruz. "Eugenics Past and Present." Social Education 65.5 (2001): 300.
• Brannigan, Michael C., ed. Ethical Issues in Human Cloning Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives. New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2001.
• Frankel, Mark S. "Inheritable Genetic Modification and a Brave New World: Did Huxley Have It Wrong?." The Hastings Center Report 33.2 (2003): 31+.

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