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atomfullerene t1_j70wkid wrote

Aside from the other answers, cloning has gone on to see commercial use and use in conservation (although that's just starting). There are a handful of companies (like ViaGen in the USA) who clone pets and livestock (useful for animal breeders). Cloning has also been done on a few endangered animals, for example a few years back a black footed ferret was cloned.

So the technology has moved out of the lab and into some practical applications.

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efh1 t1_j73bv0e wrote

The next question is addressing the fact that we could do this to humans if we wanted and whether or not that could be happening. There have been claims by groups with clear intentions to clone humans despite the obvious legal and ethical issues. Is it absurd that such interested parties would proceed covertly?

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Corrupted_G_nome t1_j73ivzg wrote

There was a case of human cloning in China and the government jailed that doctor and their staff. It was illegal and lacked permits officially and the results came out after the child was born via surrogate. I never did hear much follow up so I don't know if that was a hoax or fake news story.

I heard another of a family cloning a young child who was hit by a car and died. Again I did not confirm that story. It does bring up some weird ethical questions tho about potential uses of this technology.

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efh1 t1_j73jxr5 wrote

I know this is going to sound crazy and people get weird about ufo stuff and cults but there is literally a ufo cult that claimed they cloned a human awhile ago and they still offer cloning services on their website. I wish I was making this up and at the time it was regarded as a hoax and it may have been but if you research the cult they have a PHD in charge and are pretty serious about wanting to clone people. I cover it all in the article below.

https://medium.com/predict/a-ufo-cult-that-offers-alleged-human-cloning-services-b1a95874f83b

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Corrupted_G_nome t1_j73kbme wrote

Now that you mention it I linda remember the headline on this case. Super weird imo but the tech is very existing and very possible. Morally and ethically its super questionable tho.

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efh1 t1_j73kh7l wrote

That’s the thing about cults. They have different moral and ethic codes.

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Corrupted_G_nome t1_j73kv3w wrote

To be fair the article shared also included embryonic stem cell research which is banned in some US states but was a critical point of research of all kinds for some time (maybe still is) so I can see how that would go underground.

Designer babies should be a forbidden technology. Cure illnesses ore birth and remove genetic defects, fine. Choosing phenotype traits is creepy af imom

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atomfullerene t1_j73rqap wrote

It's not entirely clear to me what benefit there would be to a research team in covertly cloning a human. You obviously can't publish on it, which is the lifeblood of academic researchers. There's no obvious practical benefit to a for profit corporation, unless you want to, like, sell cloning services to rich people...in which case you have to advertise that you can do it. And it's not super clear why most governments would be interested in it.

It's certainly not impossible (especially for groups in the early stages who want to stay quiet until they have success), and after all it's a big world full of all sorts of people who try all sorts of things. I wouldn't be shocked. But I don't in general see a big motivation for people trying to covertly clone people. And generally speaking, people need motivation to spend a lot of money.

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bonkly68 t1_j79scmq wrote

Human development is so complex, with so many influences, it's quite likely that a cloned "Einstein" would not be the same person, may not necessarily be drawn to the fields or acquire the abilities that distinguish the original. But someone will have to try before we know.

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efh1 t1_j740o5u wrote

One scary answer you are not thinking of that is documented to exist is religious belief.

https://medium.com/predict/a-ufo-cult-that-offers-alleged-human-cloning-services-b1a95874f83b

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atomfullerene t1_j742yyz wrote

eh, I mean...random tiny cults aren't really a big source of funding for research teams. They do often pull scams though.

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Atypical_Mammal t1_j7a8q8a wrote

I don't think human cloning is going to take off because there's kind of no point. You are not going to get anywhere near the same person as the original.

Yeah, sure, DNA might be the same - but there are so many variables from embryonic stage all the way to adulthood that might make the end result completely different. Nature versus nurture blah blah blah

The only way it might work is Maybe lonely narcissistic people raising clone babies of themselves

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