Book Theme: Human Cloning
Human Cloning: The Potential Effects
This is the second blog in a series of blogs dealing with major and minor themes touched upon in my debut science fiction novel. The topic of this blog is human cloning, specifically what I feel would be serious consequences of such activity.
The concept of human cloning has a long and complicated history that I’m not really interested in exploring here. What I am interested in discussing are the dilemmas that some ethical concerns pose. In particular, I want to explore the following:
the potential effects of the surroundings on the psychological development of human clones
the potential effects of the human clones on the environment and society
the potential effects that creating human clones could have on the collective human psyche
how could progress in human cloning lead to the devolution of the human race
I know it may not be on the forefront of people’s minds when/if they think of human clones, but it should be considered that these clones will be human beings with thoughts, emotions, and attitudes just like any of us natural human beings. It is an eery thought to have, but it is possible that they will eventually be hard to differentiate from us biologically, psychologically, and emotionally. That is why it is fascinating to speculate about the thought process of the average clone. How will they feel about themselves upon finding out what they are? How will they feel around natural humans? How will we feel about them and around them? Based on the long track record of prejudice throughout the history of mankind, it is not far fetched to imagine that many of these clones would be treated as outcasts or inferiors by much of society. I imagine that the psychological impact on such individuals would reflect the myriad of emotions of those who have already been treated as such: self-hatred, bitterness towards society, suicidal, defiant, frustrated, etc. I’m sure there would also be physical ramifications for cloned individuals as well. Such consequences could range from being physically bullied to being victims of hate crimes. I am not saying that all human clones would be subjected to enduring a miserable life, but it would be naive to ignore that they are very likely to experience lifetime challenges of which most of us would be oblivious.
The second factor that I referenced above is the potential effects that human clones may have on the environment and society. Of course, there are the obvious potential effects such as overpopulation and overconsumption. There are also some less obvious effects like increased opportunities for pandemics, war, overwhelming legal systems, homelessness and unemployment, carbon footprint, etc. It is safe to say that even at the currently level of human population globally (roughly 7.9 billion as of July 2021) even the most apparent operations required to address such concerns are proving to be extremely difficult to plan much less execute. To add on top of that a whole population of human clones who likely would have the ability to reproduce would only intensify the logistical nightmare of such a massive undertaking.
Another consideration on this front is that, theoretically, each new generation of human clones would be biologically degrade compared to the previous generation. With such conditions would come obvious physical and mental health complications. Not only would such conditions be detrimental to these clones, but they would potentially overburden the world’s medical communities. That, in turn, would impact the availability of medical treatment for us natural humans. This would inevitably lead to even more tensions and hostilities between the two groups. I think it’s clear to see what that type of environment to which that could lead. There’d likely be less sympathy towards the clone population and much more scapegoating towards them. They would be more or less seen as leeches on society that may need to be eradicated. This leads to the next point….
Human’s have a long history of rationalizing the absolute worst behaviors, particularly when they feel that they are righteous in doing so. Based on the sentiments that many have already expressed in real life, I believe it is reasonable to posit that many people would look upon these human clones as an abomination. Just like certain groups now, the very existence of these clones would be looked upon as an affront to the beliefs that many others regardless of how each individual clone behaves. With that in mind, it is not far-fetched to believe that many people would feel as if justified murder would be a necessary evil to rid the Earth of these so-called abominations. If we’re being honest with ourselves, the human race, in general, already has a terrible track record of dehumanizing each other, placing a low value on human life. For instance, the fact that so many people here in the United States have become all too consumed in the culture wars attests to this. In these culture wars, the basis is that there are certain social issues in which sides are taken. After sides are taken each side vilifies those on the other side largely based on straw man arguments and stereotypes. Before long, any hopes of a civil and productive national discourse are greatly diminished if not outright erased completed. I bring up that example to highlight that as a part of human nature, tribalism often overrides personal intellect, sense of decency, and sense of respect. Tribalism would inevitably occur amongst natural humans (and possibly cloned humans) with the existence of human clones. This would result in predictably disastrous results.
This brings me to my final point. The development of human clones would expedite a devolution in the spiritual, psychological, and emotional well-being of the human race, generally speaking. I am of the opinion that the human race, in general, is already doing a fine job of debasing those qualities on its own. But with that said, to introduce alternate versions of human beings into the mix would be akin to throwing gasoline on an electrical fire. There are a couple of reasons why I believe this.
First, with the passing of each generation of human clones we would see their flaws grow exponentially. These flaws would make them the primary scapegoats for when the quality of society degrades further and further. This would be done by many natural humans regardless of whether it would be logical to do so or not. And with the increased scapegoating, comes the lack of self-reflection and self-improvement needed to address one’s own contributions to the degradation of society and to a greater extent, their own misfortunes. For a real life example of this, you need look no further than the immigrant issue in the U.S. Rather than people scrutinizing the corporations for exploiting cheap labor, politicians for selling out their constituents, and themselves for not holding their government representatives accountable, they would rather immigrants first and foremost for their personal problems and society’s shortcomings. In a situation in which human clones exist throughout the population, that amount of scapegoating and lack of self-reflection would greatly increase primarily because clones that becomes increasingly more apparent as clones would never be embraced by society. They would likely lack the social skills necessary to ingratiate themselves into society.
Second, as the perpetual scapegoating continues the less empathy people would have for these human clones. Generally speaking, this phenomenon would not only serve to erode people’s humanity with respect to the clones, it would also affect how they interact with other natural humans. As an example, I need to point no further that to the lack of empathy many people have towards victims of police brutality. Such people likely don’t know these victims personally, but they may have preconceived notions of them based largely on race, class, gender, religion, nationality, sexual preference, or some combination or the aforementioned. And because of these prejudices, they either consciously or subconsciously deem whether or not such victims are worthy of their compassion. To take it a step further, this lack of compassion for ”others” could bleed into relationships with people they have many commonalities. An example of this would be if a homophobic person not only has hateful sentiments towards strangers who are homosexuals but also spews their vitriol towards members of their family after learning of their homosexuality. This reflects the hypothetical human clone scenario in the sense that people tend to have apathy, or even hatred, towards others that they feel are deficient or lesser than in some way. This lack of empathy may be even more intense if one recognizes such deficiencies in those close to them. This especially applies if one recognizes those deficiencies in themselves yet have failed to adequately address them.