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Austin Morales
Ms. Anderson
English 11B
May 28th, 2014
The Moral Ambiguities of Cloning
When it comes to the subject of cloning, many people are significantly swayed for or
against it. Cloning can be looked at in two ways: the morals behind cloning are flawed and
should not be continued further, or the latter, which is to continue cloning for the betterment of
society. Cloning at its very core is wrong. This is because of scientific reasons such as
personality cloning (which will be discussed briefly), possible outcomes and conflicts that may
arise within society, and problems with individuality. Not only does this subject stir up debate
and restless thinking, but creates curious thoughts in the minds of men; like Victor in the book
Frankenstein when a single curious idea evolved into a monstrous creation that he would learn to
regret and abhor. With these subjects on experimentation, the line is drawn at choice; reason and
morality between do or do not.
With regard to the scientific concept of personality cloning it is vague and requires
explanation. In laymans terms, a primary conflict of cloning is not being able to clone ones
personality. Even if a scientist were able to clone a human or family animal/pet, there is no way
to ensure that the cloned objects feelings and emotions would remain the same. An entire
remapping of the anatomical brain would be necessary. (Cherry) Since this tedious process
would require even more research and experimentation on living subjects, this renders cloning in
itself incomplete. The results of cloning would not be what the general public expects; a
complete copy of their choice. Because of this reason, the clones would be turned away, like

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Victor turned away from his creation, calling it a demon and fiend on several occasions
(Frankenstein, 47). Clones themselves would live like the creature, unwanted and rejected. In
summary, though cloning may be possible through human and animal experimentation, it is an
entirely new topic of cloning experiences, memories and emotions that would require even more
funding, time and useless efforts.
Although some people might say that cloning would be beneficial towards society, this is
certainly not the case. Considering the possible outcomes, clones would be a danger to the
community. If any military were involved in the process of this subject, artificial humans could
be used as weapons. This is immoral if it is assumed that these clones are citizens and require
rights like the rest of society has under the Constitution. Being expendable and being born
from a facility out of money would certainly be useful to the martial branch; however, useful at
the cost of morality and possible destruction. An example of this could perhaps come from the
movie Star Wars. Clones were used to fight for the government, and in the end it was corrupted
and twisted into a tyrannous empire (Hadhazy). This prediction is not so far off from reality if
the research of cloning is allowed to continue. It is seen time and time again in history that if a
certain government has the necessary resources, it will rise and conquer no matter what the cost
of greed, immorality and pride.
Part of being human is having no one be exactly the same as each other, this is what
makes the world such a unique and complex place. Everyone has a different set of genes and
DNA that make up who they are. For some people, the only reason why they are happy or
successful is because of their DNA and their genes. For example, this comes in the form of
athletic families, or a family of doctors. If scientists were to continue to develop the process for
cloning, the human individuality factor would be lost forever. Not everyone would be different

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(Farnsworth). Stealing a humans identity as a clone would be an extreme, but a plausible
situation nonetheless. Furthermore, if certain crimes were committed and a DNA investigation
was carried out, who is to say that either the clone or the host was the sole criminal? It would be
impossible for modern day technology to differentiate between two like-minded, like-bodied
people. One person could have the exact same DNA as a clone, and his or her uniqueness would
be stripped away. The clone would have the same talents, skills and brainpower as the host, so
the person would never be depended on again. This is an immoral thing to do to the people of the
world. Therefore; the development of cloning research should be put to a halt.
In the book Frankenstein, the creator of the monster, Victor Frankenstein, falls into a
serious conflict with depression and rage after making his grotesque creature. People in the
modern day world may think of cloning and refer to this creature (James). Clones would be made
without a proper name, culture and home, as the monster was born in the laboratory of Victor,
and was cast out into the wilderness immediately after. The fate of these artificial humans would
no doubt end up to be the same as the creature. While clones may not necessarily be alone in the
world, all clones would be set different upon the human race. The earth would be segregated into
clone or not-clone; human or not-human this being said, it is a moral indecency to
bear these poor souls into this unforgiving world of prejudice and vice.
To conclude, research done on cloning should be stopped for the following reasons:
It would cost a fortune more funding and time to research other aspects to perfect cloning like
personality cloning, the effects cloning could cause to society are disastrous at best, and
though perfect clones may be created, by doing so all humans lose their individuality. This
subject could easily be connected to the book Frankenstein in many ways. The research of

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cloning is immoral and should not be continued, lest the whole world as it is known may change,
and not for the better.

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Works Cited

Cherry, Kendra. What is Brain Plasticity?. About.com. About. n.d. Web. 27 May 2014.
<http://psychology.about.com/od/biopsychology/f/brain-plasticity.htm\>.

Hadhazy, Adam. The Science of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Scientificamerican.com.
Scientific American. 11 August 2008. Web. 27 May 2014.
<http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-of-star-wars-clone-wars/>.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. First Edition. Clayton: Prestick House. 2005. 186. Print.

Farnsworth, Joseph. To Clone or not to Clone: The Ethical Question. Thefarnsworths.com.

Joseph Farnsworth. 5 December 2001. Web. 27 May 2014.
<http://thefarnsworths.com/science/cloning.htm>.

James, Caryn. A Warning As Science Catches Up On Cloning. Nytimes.com. The New York
Times. 26 February 1997. Web. 27 May 2014.
<http://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/26/arts/a-warning-as-science-catches-up-oncloning.html>.

Genetic Science Learning Center. What is Cloning?. Learn.Genetics. University of Utah. 14

January 2014. Web. 27 May 2014.
<http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cloning/whatiscloning/>.