Sunday, July 31, 2005
Finished a book today, The Secret by Eva Hoffman. The plot/storyline itself wasnt that great but I guess the main theme was drawing enough to make up for it. The book was about a girl who found out she was a clone of her mother when she was 17. And how her life unfolds thereafter with a large chunk about her life before she found out 'the secret'.
I mean we've all heard about human cloning and how ethical (or not) it is to play God. But I've always thought clones are only physically identical but that wasnt the case in the story. The clone was made out to be identical in almost every way. She even felt her emotions were not really hers but belonging to her mother. Well it's true that they share the exact same chromosomes but I've never thought of human emotions to be connected to the genes. I've always looked at emotion as a separate thing. Something we experience. But I guess if emotion is processed by the brain and they have the 'same' brain, then it might be true on some level that her emotions are not really hers. But still, the experiences they go through are different and experience definitely plays a role in shaping our emotions no?
The story also sort of shed light on a new side of cloning that I havent seen before. Previously I've stood neutral in the matter of cloning, neither supporting not opposing. But I guess after reading this book, it's hard not to step a little closer to the opposition. I have nothing against genetic engineering and research in that field but I maybe playing God isnt such a good idea. Especially when looking from the side of the clone instead of just us humans.
I mean we've all heard about human cloning and how ethical (or not) it is to play God. But I've always thought clones are only physically identical but that wasnt the case in the story. The clone was made out to be identical in almost every way. She even felt her emotions were not really hers but belonging to her mother. Well it's true that they share the exact same chromosomes but I've never thought of human emotions to be connected to the genes. I've always looked at emotion as a separate thing. Something we experience. But I guess if emotion is processed by the brain and they have the 'same' brain, then it might be true on some level that her emotions are not really hers. But still, the experiences they go through are different and experience definitely plays a role in shaping our emotions no?
The story also sort of shed light on a new side of cloning that I havent seen before. Previously I've stood neutral in the matter of cloning, neither supporting not opposing. But I guess after reading this book, it's hard not to step a little closer to the opposition. I have nothing against genetic engineering and research in that field but I maybe playing God isnt such a good idea. Especially when looking from the side of the clone instead of just us humans.
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