• Question: If you cloned someone that was about 20, wouldnt the clone be confused about the world and what was happening? because if you think about it, even though they would be 20, its as if they\'ve just been born because they wouldnt know anything.. ? :/ x

    Asked by rhiaaannon to Claire, Greg, Jane, Jo, Vicki on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Jane Cleal

      Jane Cleal answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      When something is cloned the 20 year old cells would be put into an egg and make an embryo. So they would be born like a normal baby and wouldn’t know anything, the only problem is that the cells would think they were older. This is what happened to Dolly the sheep, she was made from older sheep cells so she got old more quickly and got illnesses that old sheep normaly get.

    • Photo: Greg FitzHarris

      Greg FitzHarris answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Hi there… cloning in this context means making an embryo gebnetically identical to someone already alive. But the ‘clone’ still has to be born as a baby – we’re niot talkin about making 20-year olds….

      Very impiortant to remember, though… this is all ‘hypothetical’. There have been cloned animals (Dolly the sheep, for example)… but noone has ever made a cloned human… and its pretty universally banned to try, cos its potentially dangerous!!

    • Photo: Claire O'Donnell

      Claire O'Donnell answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      if you clone someone then they would be biologically identical to the person they were the clone of but they would be born as a baby and you can’t clone knowledge and experience which is what makes us who we are. The clone would be like another version of the person starting off again as a baby. I expect the baby would wish that he or she had been able to have things like times tables and other boring stuff that you have to learn at school cloned in too:)

    • Photo: Vicki Onions

      Vicki Onions answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Oh my word…what a queston!! If you saw my status it said i was debating whether to have a cup of tea…after reading this Q i have made one AND added extra sugar!!
      I think, if you clone something, you produce this from whats called “pleuripotent cells” – these are the same cells found in early embryos and that can form into anything at all – so the resulting clone would start from embryonic stages and would have no memories or experiences from being 20. Does that make sense??? Oh my brain hurts!

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