Cons of Human Cloning

If there was another "you" existing in the world and standing in front of you, how would you feel? Would you be friend to him/her? Or would you distinguish yourself as a better one? Cloning became a controversial topic since the first successful mammal, Dolly the sheep, was cloned in 1996. People speculated that human cloning was around the corner or it was possibly happening somewhere in the world. Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human. It is banned in many countries since it is considered as immoral and unethical in terms of the question of human right, value of the human life and rise of class distinction.



-Human Rights
Cloning could produce psychological distress and harm in the clone because the clone may feel that their life may already be laid out before them and have no choices. They will also face psychological problems and discrimination because of the press about their identity.
Actually, clones also have the right to live. Clones would have the same needs as non-clones of their species. It is unmoral to demand cloned humans to serve non-cloned humans as slaves.

-Value of Human Life
Human cloning would lessen the worth of individuals and diminish respect for human life. Human life would be seen as replaceable. If something happened to a person, like if he was killed, another clone could simply replace him. In fact, it would create a different child and could never replace the one that is lost.

-Class Distinction
It can prevent the transmission of genetic disease.
Imagine a new race of people that are docile with super strength yet low intelligence. Next, imagine how easily for this race to fall into slavery. Cloning humans should be for the advancement of mankind and not the lessening of individuals.
Human cloning might be used by commercial interests for financial gain. The embryos could be bought and sold, which would lead to class discrimination on the eggs available. Only the rich could afford the “best” children. Poor families would have to settle with eggs that are damaged or imperfect.

In short, human cloning violates the right and dignity of cloned human. It diminishes the value of human as people think human can be replaceable. It also raises the problem of class distinction as more intelligent people are more desirable. Some people might argue that it is acceptable to clone organs for medical purpose, but some people are also afraid that scientists will step onto a slippery slope that would inevitably lead to cloning human. As a result, human cloning should be strictly banned.

Pros of Human Cloning

If human cloning can be regulated appropriately, such as only allow to clone organs, the use of it will be beneficial to human being for medical purpose.

- Parents who have lost a child could have another baby

In 2002, a ten-year-old U.S. girl called Cady who was killed in a car crash. Her mother gave Dr Panos Zavos a blood sample taken from her daughter 26 hours after she died in order to fuse cow eggs with cells from corpses to create an animal-human hybrid. At the time, her mother said, "Cady was simply everything to me. If there is one chance in a billion that it would work, of course I want to do that. What I am doing is trying to give her biological presence in this world continuation." This is a mother expressing love for a daughter and trying to give her daughter life. 

-Medical breakthrough

We may learn how to switch cells on and off through cloning and thus be able to cure cancer. Scientists still do not know exactly how cells differentiate into specific kinds of tissue, nor they understand why cancerous cells lose their differentiation. Cloning, at long last, may be the key to understanding differentiation and cancer. 

We may be able to clone livers or kidneys for liver and kidneys transplants respectively.
Victims of terrible accidents that deform the face should now be able to have their features repaired with new, safer, technology.

- Good for infertile couples
With cloning, infertile couples could have children. Current infertility treatments are less than 10 percent successful. Couples go through physically and emotionally painful procedures for a small chance of having children. Many couples run out of time and money without successfully having children. Human cloning could make it possible for many more infertile couples to have children than ever before possible.

Figure 1. Somatic cell nuclear transfer. Here, a skin cell is removed from a patient. The nucleus of this cell is placed inside an enucleated oocyte and stimulated to divide. The resulting blastocyst can either be used to make embryonic stem cells, which are genetically identical to the donor, or they can be brought to term to create a genetically identical human being.

Just or More Than Sport?!

Sport is all forms of competitive physical activity which can be casual or organised participation, such as soccer, football, basketball and badminton. The essential part of sport is a means of exchange and understanding among people of various backgrounds, nationalities or beliefs, and promotes expression beyond traditional barriers. It is the fact that sport is not only for health benefits and instils the nature of team work, discipline and a competitive spirit, but also it can contribute to social cohesion, tolerance and integration.

Sport is like an universal language that can connect people from all over the world. For example, the World Cup is held every four years to bring different races together to bridge cultural gaps. No matter what factions people are in, they integrate to support their own countries. Moreover, Sport can contribute to economic development by creating additional sources of income including the manufacture of sporting goods and the hosting of sports events. People like to buy the same jersey as their favorite soccer players to show their support. The tourism revenue can be generated whenever a country hosts a worldwide event like the World Cup. People come from different part of the world to the host country to watch the matches and spend money there.

Even though sport is beneficial in many dimensions, it still has its dark sides. For instance, it can potentially give rise to violent and illegal activity or transactions that may not be in a community’s interest. such as violence between athletes or spectators, the use of performance enhancing drugs, or the bribery and ownership of clubs by individuals who are motivated by non-sporting factors.

Significance of Coinage and the Gold Standard

Nowadays, people are so accustomed to making payment with coins, paper bills, checks, credit cards or debit cards. Nevertheless, have you ever thought about how people traded in the past when coins had not even been invented? They used to barter things. However, sometimes it is hard to reach a consensus and build up trust between people. The appearance of coinage smoothed out the problems of trading. The value of the coins were guaranteed and people could rely on the stated value.

All coins were stamped the mint marks which indicated the credibility. Thus, stamped coins became the main currency when trading. People were more willing to do business in the place where the stamped coins were circulated. The place became wealthy due to lots of trade were brought in by people. As we always hear, money talks. When someone is rich, people are inclined to follow that person and want to take advantages of him. Power can always be gained by accumulating people as they can work for the rich ones. Political power is a typical example as rich people always have enough financial ability to do reformation.

The use of coins started the use of the gold standard for few centuries, but it was abolished later. Although it limits the inflation rate and fixes the exchange rate, it also has shortcomings. The unequal distribution of gold as a natural resource makes the gold standard much more advantageous in terms of cost and international economic empowerment for those countries that produce gold. Moreover, the total amount of gold in the world is limited and this amount is too small to serve as a monetary base. At last, following a gold standard would mean that the amount of money would be determined by the supply of gold, and hence it is hard to stabilize the economy in times of economic recession.