December 12, 2001

7:58 PM

Cloning is not monkey business.According to this article there is something fundamentally amiss in the cloning of primates. Do I sense some hot air going out of the balloons of the guys who predicted they'd be cloning humans in the near future?
posted by MAYORBOB (11 comments total)

As long as they have multiple asses, I'm fine with this.
posted by machaus at 8:23 PM on December 12, 2001

The real problem seems to be removing the nucleus from the egg, not necessarily a problem with primate DNA. I'm sure different methods exist for producing a clone and I wouldn't be quick to dismiss primate cloning just yet.
posted by skallas at 8:34 PM on December 12, 2001

pheww! I'm no luddite, but the costs outweigh the good by a long shot, IMO
posted by BentPenguin at 8:38 PM on December 12, 2001

I remember the Wired article that went on about how a scientist could clone a human "in a dark closet". Wired's articles are nice, but they're really losing journalistic merit. Sorry for the minor hijack.
posted by geoff. at 9:05 PM on December 12, 2001

less monkeys who act like they're hopped up on speed, telling you to punch them to win 20 bucks, to deal with.

by day six or seven they had started to look abnormal.

it's not exactly the most normal process to begin with...
posted by lotsofno at 9:41 PM on December 12, 2001

If you mean the Raelians (http://www.rael.org/) -- nothing is going to take the wind out of their sails. They're a bunch of Imminent Alien Contact nuts, a species particularly resistant against any sort of disappointment. "The Aliens will land on this hilltop by December 3rd!" "Oh, they didn't, but..ehm..it was because we didn't have enough faith!" Rinse, lather, repeat.

Note, I don't mean to disparage anybody interested in the UFO phenomenon, and there are some interesting writings on the subject (Jacques Vallee comes to mind).
posted by cps at 2:47 AM on December 13, 2001

IMO, cloning is just a way for men to try to make babies without women.
posted by Carol Anne at 5:01 AM on December 13, 2001

Oh, I thought it was a way for women to try to make babies without men.

That embryo has to gestate *somewhere*.

We're not to this point yet.
posted by zpousman at 5:55 AM on December 13, 2001

a species particularly resistant against any sort of disappointment. "The Aliens will land on this hilltop by December 3rd!" "Oh, they didn't, but..ehm..it was because we didn't have enough faith!" Rinse, lather, repeat.

sounds like some christian groups and their Second Coming thing.

just a way for men to try to make babies without women

but then who'd care for the baby?
posted by tolkhan at 6:10 AM on December 13, 2001

That embryo has to gestate *somewhere*.

In a box?
posted by moss at 9:39 AM on December 13, 2001

No, fool, in the Tleilaxu tanks!
posted by cps at 10:00 AM on December 13, 2001