Assignment 1.3: Investigate a Social Issue Draft
The cloning of mammals is a relatively new concept in the field of science. The issue emerged in 1996 after scientists took tissue from a dead sheep and cloned a lamb from it (Macintosh, 2013). This breakthrough made experts in various scientific fields realize that scientists could apply the same technology to human beings. Since then, scholars have been engaged in a scientific and philosophical debate concerning cloning and the way that the technology will affect the human race. Through this debate, it has emerged that cloning technology will revolutionize the people live their lives.
Sociologists link cloning to the theory of sociobiology. The theory holds that human behavior shares an intrinsic link with natural selection (Baxter, 2007). The connection between cloning and sociobiology comes from the fact that the former interferes with the process of natural selection (Human Genetics Alert, 2004). Scientists can use cloning technology to cure diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Alternatively, the technology will also allow people to interfere with key processes in life such as birth and death. Both of these facts share a connection with natural selection because birth, death and the diseases that cause them are an integral aspect of human evolution (Morales, 2009).
There are several contentious issues regarding the science of cloning. Experts still do not understand the full extent of the technology. Since scientists created Dolly the sheep, various unconfirmed reports of human cloning have emerged in China, Korea and Europe without any real substance behind (Human Genetics Alert). This means that the ideas of giving birth or reviving the dead using cloning technology are still far-fetched. Additionally, sociologists do not understand the full sociological and psychological effects of cloning humans (Pulman, 2007). They are still trying to determine how people would react to raising children who are essentially their genetics twins (Human Genetics Alert, 2004)
Sociological research into cloning could have a large impact on the science. Firstly, it would help scientists understand the true social and psychological impact of practices such as cloning the dead and conception carried out using the technology (Zavos, 2005; Morales, 2009). Sociological research into cloning could also help experts comprehend why people have such strong reactions to the idea of using the technology in any way (Human Genetics Alert, 2004).
References
Baxter, B. (2007). A Darwinian worldview: Sociobiology, environmental ethics and the work of Edward O. Wilson. Aldershot, England: Ashgate.
Human Genetics Alert. (2004). Reproductive cloning: Ethical and social issues. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CGwQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hgalert.org%2Ftopics%2Fcloning%2Fcloning.PDF&ei=E8v9UvO0LcSh4gTxn4DADg&usg=AFQjCNFdW-wTZAALkTj74v16ReRm4pKvMA&sig2=f0uMfiM_3mo6YnrIJFTHQg.
Macintosh, K. L. (2013). Human cloning: Four fallacies and their legal consequences. Cambridge [U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Morales, N.M. (2009). Psychological and ideological aspects of human cloning: A transition to a transhumanist psychology. Journal of Evolution of Technology, 20 (2), 19-42.
Pulman, B. (2007). The issues involved in cloning: Sociology and bioethics. Revue Francaise de Sociologie, 48 (5), 129-156.
Zavos, P. (2005). Reproductive cloning is moral. In J. Woodward (Ed.), The ethics of human cloning (pp. 14-24). San Diego: Thompson Gale.
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