Would you clone yourself?

[DancingJools]

Everyone seems to say, "If I had my life to live over again ...", or "If I knew then what I know now ....".
I am guessing we all have regrets, lessons learned, what ifs, and hindsight. For those of us who raise children, I am sure the idea of "I will try to spare my child all the mistakes I made" plays a role in how they deal with their kids.
But what if science made it possible for us to clone human beings? I am not so interested in the ethical aspects of cloning human life. Just the aspect of cloning one's own cells.
Would you want to have a chance to "raise yourself as a child", to relive your life, as it were, with all the lessons you have learned (think, I would want to start dance lessons at the age of five :) )
This thought has been on my mind so much lately, for a lot of reasons. I wonder what others think.

[fascination]

good lord no...I am perfectly content to raise people who only have part of my DNA that's enough

[Peaches]

Laying aside, for the moment, the issue of not wanting kids at all.

No.

I'm not sure how raising myself as a child would be substantially different than raising a different child, as far as trying to spare them mistakes.

Then again, while I can look back at certain things and determine it wasn't the smartes of choices, I can honestly say I'm happy with where all of the choices--good and bad--have gotten me. I like myself, and it was the sum total of all of my experiences that made me this way. I wouldn't go back and change my life.

[quixotedlm]

There is no fun in looking at the same face all over again... I grew up thinking that I don't look very good... It's changed now, but I'm still not so sure of my child-self's face ;) As long as I can be vain, I'll be a tad bit less vain than cloning myself and just adopt a pretty-kid ;)

[cornutt]

Would I clone myself? No. I wouldn't want to spend all my time around someone so obnoxious. :D

[NielsenE]

No, one of me is too many

[mamboqueen]

no; messing with Mother Nature, imo, bad idea.

[delamusica]

Looking back on what my parents had to deal with trying to raise me, I would have to be crazy to volunteer for a repeat of that job! :rolleyes:

I am karmically doomed to have stubborn, super-independent, rebellious children.

[dgcasey]

Would you want to have a chance to "raise yourself as a child", to relive your life, as it were, with all the lessons you have learned (think, I would want to start dance lessons at the age of five :) )


Actually, you wouldn't be reliving your life, unless of course, you would be one of those parents that are doing it all wrong by living their lives through their kids.

A common misperception about clones is that they would be exactly like you in every way, which is far from the truth. Physically they would be a copy, yes, but personality-wise, they would be a completely different individual. Your personality and character are formed by outside forces and how a person integrates those forces internally. Unless your clone experienced every single event that you experienced, exactly the same way you did, they would grow to be quite different than you.

That being said, no I wouldn't clone myself. Hell, the world doesn't know what to do with one of me.

[Sabor]

why mess w/ my uniqueness? jaja

[Pacion]

why mess w/ my uniqueness? jaja

:doh: :lol:


A common misperception about clones is that they would be exactly like you in every way, which is far from the truth. Physically they would be a copy, yes, but personality-wise, they would be a completely different individual. Your personality and character are formed by outside forces and how a person integrates those forces internally. Unless your clone experienced every single event that you experienced, exactly the same way you did, they would grow to be quite different than you.

Is this 100% true/accurate? Where I am coming from on this is that aren't identical twins, triplets etc clones of each other? I have read stories of identical twins, triplets etc being seperated at birth or shortly thereafter and whilst they have different experiences they weren't completely different from each other when they were reunited. I vaguely remember a story of one set of male twins marrying similar women, driving the same car make (I don't remember if the colour was the same) and inspite of not growing up together, a lot of their mannerisms, likes and dislikes were the same.

Would l like a clone of myself from the point of view of a clone being a twin? I think yes, I would like a younger twin/triplets. The world could do with more like me! :lol:

[thespina13]

Yes. I've thought about this. I'm sure part of why I'd be curious about this is because I'm a raging narcissist. That aside, however....

I would love to see my little face as a baby. I was damn cute. I'd love to see from a third-person perspective how people responded to that. Who I am right now was greatly shaped by those responses when I was a kid. I'd like to give the little carbon copy the words of advice that would have been relevant to me when I was little. I would put her into gymnastics and dance, never telling her she was too big for any of that, and I would watch to see what kind of potential she could realize being told that. I would love to have conversations with mini-me, knowing how that mind works, yet having strengths I never did and weaknesses I avoided somehow. I'd like to understand how not having my own dad for a dad would change my upbringing.

But most of all I'd just like to really look at her. Something tells me I'm needing a little girl. Raising boys is fun and all... but...

[DancePoet]

Everyone seems to say, "If I had my life to live over again ...", or "If I knew then what I know now ....".
I am guessing we all have regrets, lessons learned, what ifs, and hindsight. For those of us who raise children, I am sure the idea of "I will try to spare my child all the mistakes I made" plays a role in how they deal with their kids.
But what if science made it possible for us to clone human beings? I am not so interested in the ethical aspects of cloning human life. Just the aspect of cloning one's own cells.
Would you want to have a chance to "raise yourself as a child", to relive your life, as it were, with all the lessons you have learned (think, I would want to start dance lessons at the age of five :) )
This thought has been on my mind so much lately, for a lot of reasons. I wonder what others think.
Hmmm ... the possibilities of cloning, would I have any inkling of being a clone if I was cloned? Would I have any sense of what my first life was? Would it even matter? The whole idea seems strange.

[DancePoet]

good lord no...I am perfectly content to raise people who only have part of my DNA that's enough
:lol:

Even when you are raising someone elses, that's more then enough.

[DancePoet]

why mess w/ my uniqueness? jaja
:lol: :notworth: