There is nothing immoral about cloning humans, but governments around the globe will be terrorized by the thought. Nations are not run by the sciences, but rather through a collection of local human emotions we like to call governments.

1. what is "human" life?

Not a new question at all, Justin. Priests and clergymen have faced this question for centuries, with the notion reaching its peak during the Skopes infamous Monkey Trials. In the 70s, I can recall news articles asking if whales and dolphins should be granted human status.

We are human. We think in abstract, use complex tools and machines, and we are able to communicate coherently. A properly cloned human would be no different.

2. how much can we modify it before it is no longer human?

Not at all. Modifying, or mutilating, you from human status is immoral and illegal.

3. do humans have spirit if they are not conceived normally?

They would be no different from you or I.

4. if you clone a hand, does the hand have a spirit?

Only if it can, independently, think in abstract, use complex tools and machines, and communicate coherently

5. if you clone part of a brain does that part of a brain have a spirit?

Only if it can, independently, think in abstract, use complex tools and machines, and communicate coherently

So, what’s wrong with cloning, other than the fact that we would be brining more mouths into an already overcrowded world -- mouths that would doubtless have designs on our cloned lamb chops!

But seriously, I’m afraid there is a bit more to the issue than this, J. Who are we to say what is and is not right for a society whose mores seem to change with the tide? Should cloning of human beings (please note the choice of the "H" word) be considered a blasphemy (please note the choice of the "B" word)? Is the very idea of such an occurrence so repulsive that it would destroy all social balance? Perhaps, but I would like to consider something else. This is a little something I recall from the 50s (a little bit) and 60s (a lot).

Seems there was a lot of cross-burning on neighbor’s lawns and church hangings going on about that time. A lot of good people were horsewhipped -- that means their very flesh flailed from their bodies with strips of rawhide at the hands of violent, uncaring people -- in a bloody rampage that fairly covered these United States of America. When you start talking about what is and is not socially acceptable, I’ll go so far as to say you should keep an equitably clean yard and your home in relative repair. When you start talking about human beings being blasphemous creations, you begin to take on the cowling of vigilante forces, roaming the land and playing judge, jury, and executioner at will, which, by the way, is a rather severe federal crime these days.

Whether it is right or wrong to clone human beings is still a moot point. This is one of those fences with multiple sides, and no place to comfortably sit-out the conflict, while at the same time the practice of such clonings will come to light, of this I have no doubt. I also have no doubt that there will be a bloody reckoning to face when the Pro’s and the Con’s of this issue meet.

Cloning is not necessarily taking the place of God. That is impossible for us to do, but there are many who think this to be disrespectful to God, as well as to humanity itself. Here is where I shall have to disagree. As I have stated many times on many boards, I do question the existence of a God -- I always have and I believe, to the anguish of my mother, I always shall. There is nothing I can do about the way I think and feel. This is me. Throughout history, man has recreated gods in his own image. He has envisioned that the All Mighty once flew through the air like a majestic eagle, for he knew what an eagle could do -- that He strode the Earth like a great bull, for he knew what a bull was. These were tangible transitions of strength and splendor, easily recreated in the mind of man to a supernatural configuration.

Today, interestingly enough, you can even find ministers and preachers who actually give Him a sort of fourth dimensional aura of presence. God is omnipotent. God is everywhere. God is everywhen.

The previous century has seen so many leaps and bounds in medicine and the sciences, mostly due to that horrid war of wars WWII, that mankind feels lost and without a guide. There are so few people who can actually grasp the growing world around them that they feel a desperate need to turn to the supernatural, to the divine host, to the holy of holies, seeking some comforting answer to some traumatizing question. I find my answers in the sciences -- but they are always inconclusive. There is always something beyond what can be seen, beyond what is known. Cloning human beings is a very frightening endeavor, true, but one which will come to pass and will bring to us so much more in medicine.

Is it possible, for instance, to clone only limbs instead of whole bodies? Organs? Eyes with which to see? Ears with which to hear? How far could we go?

The DNA of Albert Einstein is still available...

Dan