From:	Robert Watkins robert.watkins@******.com
Subject:	Cloning SOTA
Date:	Wed, 10 Feb 1999 17:33:19 +1000

Starrngr writes:
> We all know that cloning is possible, and is infact commonplace
> in 206x. We
> also know that with simsense it is possible to experiance and
> record everthing
> a person sees hears and feels. Putting these two things together
> what is the
> general consensus on this list of the possiblity of these being used to
> provide certain people with a virtual immortality? IE being able
> to record a
> persons memeories and knowlege, and pump it into the brain of a
> clone, so that
> the clone wakes up knowing everything the person does?

Nope... you're wrong on several points:

1) Cloning is possible, but there's no data to show that cloning and
sparking sentience is possible (except through the method that gaves us
Dolly the sheep, which is basically a slight tinkering with the natural
reproductive method).

2) You'd need to copy _all_ data, from the moment the person was born to the
moment you want to transfer the knowledge over. Good luck getting enough
storage space. Full-sensory simsense isn't cheap, you know.

3) The religious point-of-view for a second: Your soul is more than the sum
of your experiences. (NOTE: Don't debate this with me... I'm agnostic. I
don't know, I don't care, I couldn't give a damn.)

4) Simsense runs in real-time. You could filter and compress some of the
junk, but too much of that and you'd lose the gestalt you were after.

So, at best, this method would require serious pre-planning. And then the
clone would have to deal with temporal displacement. Think: let's say you
had a 25 year old who had this done. You create the clone, and start feeding
it the data. By the time it's finished, the difference between the real
world, and the clone's experience of it is 25 years. You could have a
rolling operation, I guess (after all, you have to start recording when the
person is born, you could set up a backup clone a few years later), to
reduce the temporal displacement, but that wouldn't give you immortality...
the body would still die of old age at about the same time.

In conclusion: if you want immortality, stick to leonisation.

--
Duct tape is like the Force: There's a Light side, a Dark side, and it
binds the Universe together.
Robert Watkins -- robert.watkins@******.com