Re: cloning (Professor Prabhu Guptara msg)

[prabhu.guptara@ubs.com]

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[Topics under debate]: GOOD GOVERNANCE
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     Dear Girish

     I respect your opinion, just as I respect the opinions of everyone
     (even if I am brusque in my language more often than I wish).

     However, let us be clear that your opinion is an opinion.

     You define humanness at one point.

     Someone else defines humanness at another point.  They are welcome to
     do so too.

     Such a variety of opinions gives us no grounds on which to base a
     public policy which wants to encourage cloning.

     We do better to take scientific advances with a pinch of salt, as
     every scientific advance usually, in time, reveals a kick-back effect.
      For example, medical advances which save the lives of infants and
     ameliorate suffering during one's life span and enable older folk to
     have a better quality of life than they usually did in the past are
     praiseworthy - but they are precisely what has contributed to the
     population explosion.

     Most human problems are not caused merely by lack of knowledge, most
     are caused by the greed and power-lust in the human heart.  That is
     why most scientific advances are in any case double-edged: can be used
     for good or evil, as with the ability to split the atom.


     Professor Prabhu Guptara
     Director, Organisational and Executive Development
     Wolfsberg Executive Development Centre
     CH-8272 Ermatingen
     Switzerland
     tel: +41-71-663.5605
     fax: +41.71.663.5594
     email: prabhu.guptara@ubs.com





______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: cloning (Professor Prabhu Guptara msg)
Author:  gn4 (gn4@iname.com)
Date:    03.05.1999 19:27


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[Topics under debate]: GOOD GOVERNANCE
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Dear Prof Saab,
New to this discussion and have not yet found the time to explore the
whole concept of this debate properly. But since my mail box receive
your email couldn't resist the temptation to reply. Please excuse me if
this argument has already been discussed.

In my opinion "human life" of a fertilized embryo (and my I stress the
word human) is not dependent on whether it is alive at conception (of
course it is!). The cell is alive but does it have human life? The
function of the cells at the stage of conception is simply division.
Would you call this human life? Differentiation of the cells comes later
and still later the process of individual cells 'learning' their
assigned functions. In my opinion when this stage begin you can see the
beginning of "human" life. The cells now are no longer simply alive they
have human life in them.

Girish



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