Happy Birthday Darwin

Feb 13, 2007 by Naomi.

Wouldn’t it be a great world if we had more good scientists? Or musicians? Or poets? They could be cloned and we would have a super race. Well not really.

A cell from Jonas Salk would grow to look like Jonas Salk but become a scientist that would solve such a world problem as curing polio? Most likely not. He may solve a world problem but not necessarily. You see, the baby that grows from the cell has to live through a lifetime and absolutely could not duplicate the first World War’s environment and economy in New York’s factory district. I will admit that considering the health crisis we have today and his genes, the clone might go into the health field. But all that would take 40 years, providing he had similar opportunities in medical research. Or he may reach greater heights if the clone’s childhood would include the enhanced learning available today. But again if he didn’t have to work to put himself through college, he could indulge in drugs, alcohol, and other pastimes pursued by today’s youth.

Speculation is foolish. And so is cloning of human beings. A coach dreaming of a super sports team would have one fine time raising and training a dozen perfect specimens. Cloning sheep gets animals with consistent wool but what will the market do about it? The best thing to do then is to clone public relations folks — more glitzy salespeople. Oh my goodness, what have I done?

So there you go. Society is not able to solve the problem created by too many people as it is. Charles Darwin didn’t dwell on over population. That wasn’t a problem on February 12, in 1809 when he was born. Natural selection in his view ruled everything. Species came and species went extinct. To assure Homo sapiens survival for a long while I think we need to work more diligently on providing for the babies that are here.

Posted in Social Commentary | No Comments »