The Daily Mind

Monday, February 16, 2004

"Excuse me. Do you clone?"

So, we have reached the point where all the cards are on the table. No drawbacks, no hidden trumps. We all know the story, the different sides, the arguments. The pros and cons of cloning are evident. And in listening to both sides, the supporters and the critics, it becomes increasingly more obvious that we cannot expect the "right answer" to suddenly emerge from a hidden spot in the clouds. Because there is none.

Of course we have heard that the results of therapeutic cloning might benefit future generations. Even if it is unlikely. But is that important? Is not every single step worth it, no matter how small? Are we not killing our children by refusing to use every method at hand to possibly make their life better? After all the "future" and the "greater good" are often used synonymously. It would be no less than "preventive" healing through "preventive" killing.

We have heard about the ambivalence of the already existing situation. That it does not make much sense to condemn the killings of embryos in laboratories but allow abortions. We know that no law in the civilised world can support the organised execution of human life. And that by creating life artificially we do not make it any better but worse. Much worse. Because we only create in order to destroy. And that is twice as destructive.

There are these arguments and many more. We have heard them all. We have listened to experts easily supporting both opinions, regarding it from all different perspectives, from under a microscope to another planet. The church, of course, decides to take the easy way out and is simply against everything and everyone. That this statement is not of any help to the process of making a decision has never been of concern to them. But it is not God who has to live with the consequences, it is us.

The answer to this riddle is that there is none. I wonder how long it will take everyone to remember that moral itself is no more than a human invention. We do not have to discover what is the right thing to do, we have to decide it. We have to make it up. Neither nature nor any higher power cares about the outcome. The universe is by default free of values. God and Evil are not concepts that any lving being besides us would understand.
It is completely our problem. And discussions about how many cell phases it takes to define life as life are nothing but rdiculous and not helping anyone. Reasoning on that level does not solve the problem. The only thing it does is neutralise our conscience, so we can sleep at night.

Those who avert their gazes, saying that there are doors that should not be opened, are merely being ignorant. It is a rule of life and time that all doors that can be opened, will be opened. Sooner or later. All you can do is delay the inevitable.

What we need now is a decision. A clear direction. We have to stop sugar coating the problem, and start talking facts. We have to choose our path. And live with it.
23:51