NationStates Jolt Archive


Would you clone your cat?

Dobbs Town
24-12-2004, 08:30
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2004/12/23/clone-kitten-041223.html

What I find incredible is that for 50K she could have had at least 2000 non-cloned cats instead.

I also have to wonder if the cloners didn't just go pick up a suitable-looking kitten from the Humane Society when she wasn't looking.

Thoughts on cloning? Poll to come.
Lunatic Goofballs
24-12-2004, 08:34
I think that some people have way too much money and way too few neurons.

I hope the cat goes insane and murders the entire family. Not because I wish her or her family harm. I just think it'd make a great horror story.
Avalanche21
24-12-2004, 08:43
My cat was thinking of having me cloned.
Gaeltach
24-12-2004, 08:47
I dislike cats, so....no. In fact, I don't think I'd even clone my dog. I think cloning is fascinating, and the study should be increased, but not to include my pets.

Then again maybe I would....if it was really really cheap.
Skalador
24-12-2004, 08:51
I think that some people have way too much money and way too few neurons.

I hope the cat goes insane and murders the entire family. Not because I wish her or her family harm. I just think it'd make a great horror story.

lol

Did I ever tell you how entertaining you are? Damn I love your goofy comments.

Personally, I wouldn't clone a pet. I lost a dog two years ago, but I wouldn't try to get her back. Because you know, technically clones are like twins except they're born with an age interval. So it wouldn't be the same dog anyway, just a twin of the dog with a personality of it's own shaped by how it's raised. I might as well get a new pet and keep those fond memories of my cute little Lady.
PIcaRDMPCia
24-12-2004, 08:57
If the technology was cheap and I was certain the clone would be just like the original in all manners...then yes. Otherwise, no.
JiangGuo
24-12-2004, 09:00
... I was certain the clone would be just like the original in all manners...

Quite unlikely to be technically feasible in the near future. The only conceivable way would to do this would be have a complete neural map of the original cat while it was still alive, then somehow imprint this into the completed clone's brain. The technology does not exist for either...YET.
Smeagol-Gollum
24-12-2004, 09:15
I was astounded and disgusted at this report.

To me it seems a terrible example of the worst excesses of conspicuous capitalist consumerism.

That medical and scientifc resources can be expended in such a manner, when there are children anywhere suffering and dying from curable and/or preventable diseases is quite simply immoral.

And to come at Christmas adds insult to injury.

Christmas is not a celebration of consumerism. As far as I recall, the message was something to do with love your neighbour.

Cloning cats just somehow does not equate.
PIcaRDMPCia
24-12-2004, 09:28
Quite unlikely to be technically feasible in the near future. The only conceivable way would to do this would be have a complete neural map of the original cat while it was still alive, then somehow imprint this into the completed clone's brain. The technology does not exist for either...YET.
Indeed, though with the current rate of technology it will probably be feasible within fifty years or so.
Wagwan
24-12-2004, 09:41
Christmas is not a celebration of consumerism. As far as I recall, the message was something to do with love your neighbour.

Cloning cats just somehow does not equate.


her cat was dead man, now it came back to life. admittedly it's more of an easter story but still. there are religious connotations and that makes it xmassy. XMASSY i tell you. yes. although i fucking hate cats. at least it means animal rights people can shut the fuck up now. if we start cloning animals specifically for testing they can't object. if we didn;t need them for testing they wouldn't exist. i wonder if we can breed humans without souls. then war would be amazing, just like a game - you can send in thousands of soulless humans to do bloody battle and there's no comebacks
Kryogenerica
24-12-2004, 09:53
Hell, no. As much as I love my cats and wouldn't get rid of them even if I could, I have no intention of getting any more when these two (both rescued dumped kittens - I am too soft :rolleyes: ) die. 15 years is too much commitment for anything other than my kids or partner :) Not to mention the number of animals they kill by torture, no matter how well they are fed :mad: . Three bell collars do no good if the cat sits on a branch and waits for stupid birds to land underneath... :(
Amall Madnar
24-12-2004, 09:55
My cat is 16 and going to die soon probably, he has lost about a pound or so a year for the last several years ( for a 16 lb cat, thats alot of weight when it adds up )...

I would never want a "clone"....
Mutant Dogs 2
24-12-2004, 09:55
I think that some people have way too much money and way too few neurons.

I hope the cat goes insane and murders the entire family. Not because I wish her or her family harm. I just think it'd make a great horror story.

lol! :D
Rokuen
24-12-2004, 09:58
I wouldn't...but I say that if you wanna...and you have the money to blow...go ahead. No moral problems with me.
Jannemannistan
24-12-2004, 10:15
i dont see the point in cloning your pet if it doesnt get the same memory and 'spirit'. i mean your pet has become the way you love him because of the series of events over the years, so if it was say a dog with a 'blank' memory you would have to simulate all those events again in order to get the same dog.

but i see where the woman is coming from we had a dog from when i was born till when i was 13 then it died.....:(
when i came home and my dad told me we where going to put him to sleep i nearly cried myself blind, actually still hurts when i think about it.
and if there was a way to get the same dog back with the same memory and all i wouldnt hesitate, id start saving money today.

or a combination between my dog and my ferret (kees) since he was without a doubt the friendliest ferret ever to walk the earth:D

btw lmfao! i see a market coming for your lease pet....
you pay monthly and if it dies u'll get it replaced by a replica within 4 working hours!
Matalatataka
24-12-2004, 10:39
50K - no way. Fifty bucks, maybe. I'd be curious to see if I could raise the clone to be as awesome as the original has been. Now, I love my cat. I've loved all the cats and dogs I've lived with over the years, but this one has been the best of all the cats I've lived with and it's gonna hurt like hell when he goes. He's very much my child and I'm way too emotionally invested in him. But when he's gone his soul will have moved on. A clone will NOT be the same cat anymore than a clone of a human would be the same souled human. It's a new entity that has been brought into this life by a diferent means of conception.

Still, adoption is the best way to bring new pets into the family and even with cloning I'm just not sure I'd avail myself of the option. Regardless, FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS TO CLONE A CAT!?!?!?!? Sorry, but WTF!?!?! Think of how much help fifty thousand dollars could be split up between five or ten rescue shelters and the choice of this selfish woman is just another pathetic example of a person with way too much money and not enough common sense.
Smeagol-Gollum
24-12-2004, 10:50
I wouldn't...but I say that if you wanna...and you have the money to blow...go ahead. No moral problems with me.

Should resources, including monetary, medical and scientific be frittered away to satisfy the bizarre quirks of the wealthy with no regard to the greater needs of others?

How much good could have been done by the application of those resources to more worthy ends?
Dobbs Town
24-12-2004, 16:48
Yes I want to toodle my own horn a bit.

This is a bump.

Bump!
New Foxxinnia
24-12-2004, 16:52
No. After having a cat for a really long time I would like one that looks different.
Ashmoria
24-12-2004, 17:21
cloning a pet is stupid. its the identical twin of your dead cat not the cat itself. dead is dead and you can't change it

besides, that was the most ORDINARY looking cat imaginable. it really wouldnt surprise me if dobbs was right and it was taken from the shelter. why pay $50k for a $5 cat?
New Foxxinnia
24-12-2004, 17:23
why pay $50k for a $5 cat?How dare you put a price on happiness?
Chansu
24-12-2004, 18:10
No...until cloning can figure a way to make the cat have pretty much the same personality as the old one(minus a few annoying things), or until it's cheaper than getting a new cat.

I'd rather see the 50k go to a better cause. Animal shelters. Adopting a few new cats from shelters. Some sort of education for pet buyers that would convince people not to get pets they won't want to keep for as long as the pet lives. Neutering/spaying cats. I could go on and on and on...