The reason I am not overly fond of clones is simple and personal. It
isn't that I feel they trivialize the value of human life; if that were
the case I'd hold an animosity toward androids and designer babies too,
which I don't. Rather, the reason why I dislike clones, though in
retrospect it may sound childish, is because of an ex girlfriend who
left me for a clone of myself. He had a built in compliance-enforcement
shock chip to ensure total obedience. Though I'll be the first admit
it wasn't a terribly healthy relationship to begin with, and I'm
probably better off now that I am no longer with her, there's something
unnerving about being dumped for a stranger who is a physical duplicate
of yourself and even though her demands are no longer of my concern, I
couldn't help but wonder what (besides a built-in obedience device) this
guy had that I didn't. It didn't sit well with me and that is why I'm
not usually exactly the most outspoken advocate of whole organismal
cloning of people, per se.
My friend Drake says they make a valuable cheap workforce with
relatively low training costs compared to more traditional employees and
I will grant them that.
Also some clans swear they make good surplus pilots to have at the ready
for filling out ranks of mecha teams during conflicts. Again, I won't
argue against that either. However, I do feel that the potential to be
replaced by a clone of yourself, socially, is kind of creepy. A few
enterprising lawyers amongst the Hegemony, Cogwerk and Shogunate are
attempting to draft out legislation on processes for individuals to go
about copyrighting their identity in the aims of lowering the frequency
of incidents like that occurring but in the meantime, keen observation
and the occasional DNA test are the only ways to be sure your friends
family and coworkers are their originals and not clones.
Submitted by Mycobacter#712744
