Blog 17

The topic I’m preparing to explore for my third and final English essay is the ethics (or lack thereof) of human cloning. Since news of the first successfully cloned animal, a sheep named “Dolly” broke in 1996, the question of whether or not this technique would be applied for use on humans has been spreading within the biology community and the public; like wildfire. The topic of cloning human beings is one that has sparked much debate in recent years, with the success of this technology. As it is no longer a question of “can we do this?” but rather a question of “should we do this?” In my essay, I plan to explore how Yo-Yo Ma’s essay supports my argument. In “Necessary Edges” Yo-Yo Ma asserts his opinion that we are in dire need of integrating art classes with equal weight as the core math and sciences into our school systems, changing the STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics.) Additionally, I plan to use Johah Lehrer’s “The Future of Science is… Art?” to further support Yo-Yo Ma’s idea that perhaps science and the way we teach it, is incomplete without art. But how could this possibly relate to the ethical debate of human cloning? Well in my mind the connection is actually quite clear. Whether it’s my Catholic upbringing or merely a personal moral belief I’ve acquired all on my own, I tend to look at conception, birth, and the miracle of life as something so beautiful and that the misuse of the creation of life is the misuse of something sacred. I have a strong belief that the cloning of animals alone in bad enough, but that the cloning of human beings is simply put, scientists attempting to “play God” if you will. I also believe that art is as important as Yo-Yo Ma and Johah Lehrer suggest, as art has the ability to prompt creative thinking and innovation and creates opportunities for folks to consider issues in new lights, tackle abstract thoughts and find appreciation and beauty from even the most simple and common of occurrences. Understanding this, I’m prompted to wonder if people looked at conception, birth and the miracle of life the way they look at, say, the Mona Lisa or other acclaimed works of art; would they then, be hesitant to allow arguably unethical scientific procedures to alter it? To dive into this topic I plan to use an article entitled “Ethics and Cloning” in which I found on the UNE library database. I’m confident in the legitimacy and reliability of this source for a few reasons. First off, the article is very recent as it was published in December of last year, making the article not even a year old. With that being said, the article is also out of the British Medical Bulletin, a peer-reviewed general medical journal published by Oxford University Press. So, for these reasons it’s clear the credibility of this source makes it more than eligible for the use of its information in my short essay on the topic.