A.I vs Cloneing
 

I just finished watching A.I on DVD and have come across a dilema that has been plaugeing me since.
I was just wondering on your opinion whether or not that humans will be succesful of the birth of Arificial Intelligence or cloneing of humans

I ve read, as all of u probably have as wel,l that the United States and Europe(mainly Britain) have been researching in stem cells and are on the brink of cloning cells which would lead to the possibility of cloneing humans. So far they have only used these study's to find cures for diseases.

IN Japan they are doing incredible things with machines and computers. Scientists in japan have created a robot that was used in an experiment if it can find its way out of a maze. the machine apparently never went to the same spot twice if it got stuck.

any thoughts
btw im studying electrical and mechanical engineering :rolleyes:

Firstly, it's CLONING. :)

Secondly, artificial intelligence is a much better route to follow when you think about it. I mean it could end badly like in T2, or it could really surprise everyone and be a good thing.

Cloning is just wrong, IMO. It's not natural, but neither is artificial intelligence. So while a.i. might be a safer way to go, it shares a lot of the same negative aspects of cloning.

Thirdly, when did it come to the point that sex is overrated? :rotfl:

I don't have a problem with it being unnatural. Is making medicine natural? How about cars, telephones and computers? One of the things that bothers me is the suffering animals go through in the name of cloning research and experimentation. Another thing that bothers me is the probable discrimination that cloned people would have to endure. Also, what will the physical problems be? How many years of torturing animals until we find out how healthy a cloned human will probably be? Where will it end? Will we start messing around with the DNA and create superhumans or freeky looking humans? How will the religious folk respond to cloning? Will there be a war between pro-cloning people and anti-cloning people? The whole thing is very scary.

Spud = Religious folk. Cloning is unnatural, but medicine and computers, tecnology and cars are not something I'm going to pitch a fit about.

Tis sad they are putting animals through these tests, but they don't care, they only care about the shiny award they get when they succeed.

Well, I think they care when they are in pain, and I think that happens quite a lot.

I don't agree that something "unnatural" is by definition wrong. For one thing, I'm not even sure what I consider unnatural. I guess it'd be against God's will. But that's hardly a universally accepted definition. I'll just say this: just because we can, doesn't always mean we should.

In Japan they are pushing technology advances like mad...they spend a large amount of there budget on producing computers that are faster and better... in my opinion i think they will be the first to create a form of A.I>

In the States the bush administration seems to be investing there money(Billions if not Trillions) in to there defense(army,navy)they want to be top dog in when it comes to warfare
They have however experimented with un man air crafts like bombers and fighter jets.

I saw a bit on The Daily Show last night where they have a robot in Japan (forgot it's real purpose), but they gradually want get them thinking on their own and making decisions on their own.

Jon Stewart then pauses and says, "Yes, I don't see that going wrong" just then a clip from T2 comes on. :rotfl:

Well, it's a question of the way cloning is portrayed in the media... The media would sell their mothers for a good story, and they always blow everything out of proportion.

I'm studying molecular genetics, so here's my $0.02 worth :D

Stem cell research (which is quite different from cloning) can be very beneficial and promising. For example, human brain cells don't repair themselves, so someone with Parkinson's or Alzheimers disease is stuffed...

Scientists can take stem cells (in theory) and make them become brain cells... which can then be transplanted into the brain, and hopefully everything works out :D

Cloning of animals is a different matter altogether... and to tell you the truth, as a scientist in training, I think it's quite pointless and dangerous anyway...

As far as fearing the "un-natural" goes, think about it this way... when Galileo said that the world revolves around the sun, they wanted to burn him at the stake...

Zeph: I don't think that's entirely true. The persecution of Galileo came many years after theories like that had already been brought forth (I believe that's how it was for the "the earth is round" concept, but I'm not 100% positive that it was the same in that situation). But you're right regardless...however, I think it's important to define was "un-natural" means before we take any firm stances there. I'll bet it means different things to different people.

Can this be done without fertilizing a human egg?

I'm 100% in favor of stem cell research, for the reasons Zephyrus listed. But on the subject of cloning, I agree with TWT when he says "just because we could, doesn't mean we should." I don't know how I feel about Artificial Intelligence, except that we should never, EVER give one human emotions, programmed or not. :)

Well, there are reasons to be in favor of stem cell research, and reasons not to. I am not so foolish as to deny it has no benefit...but at what price?

this is an interesting topic. i think we should all just put away our arguments about morality, playing god, and federal sanctions, and just admit having a clone would be fu**ed up. i can see the argument that cloning is scientific progress, and we should do it on the sole basis that it would provide grounds for medical research and advances in disease provention. but think about it...... it's your clone. there is something in the back of your head telling you that it's unnatural and weird. go with that instinct and don't clone anyone, i say. usually when people listen to their gut intuition good things happen.

i think there comes a time when scientific progress goes too far, and we're doing things that seem alien and bizarre. the first guy who patents a working time machine for example, will personally get a letter of discouragement from me. i'm not against all advances in the science community, of course, just the ones that i instinctively can see are wrong.

as far as galileo goes, he didn't really alter anything on the scale that we're about to. galileo added a great depth of knowledge to the scientific community, but it's not like he produced living, breathing human/experiments in a test tube.

there are things that are part of god's domain that we shouldn't infringe upon. i just think this is one of them.

In the end it will all be mainstream if u ask me...but since nobody did, i will be quiet now.

i feel so torn on this. i mean, i'm all for scientific research, but sometimes you just get a horrible feeling about something that is probably nature's way of telling you something isnt right. i can't quite put it into words.

Didn't you say we should put away our arguments about playing god? Wouldn't that be nice? :)

um.... yeah... i did say that. lol. well, i'm not sure why, but i just get the feeling it's wrong. a lot of people do belive in god, and there are things on this earth that i'm not sure should be messed with.