Ethical Issues Concerning Advancing Technology with Cloning

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Technology is radically changing and improving every single year, with new advances and inventions all the time. However, with all these changes and developments in technology, there are also a series of problems and ethical issues that it may impose on society. In the scientific fiction novel written by Nancy Farmer, The House of the Scorpion, Farmer introduces the idea of a society where technology is used incorrectly and to a person’s own advantage. The House of the Scorpion brings up a variety of moral and ethical issues, mainly cloning and technology used for all the immoral purposes. In an article written by Elizabeth Landau, "Cloning Used to Make Stem Cells from Adult Humans," she explores how our modern day world and scientists have finally developed a method of deriving stem cells from a person’s own cloned cells. In the future, with greater technology and research, it may be possible to create a complete clone of a person. Technology may be very useful and efficient, but if used incorrectly, it can cause drastic effects and problems for all of mankind. Farmer’s novel The House of the Scorpion and Landau’s article, "Cloning Used to Make Stem Cells from Adult Humans," explains the future in cloning with newer technologies, and possible concerns that may arise from it.
Farmer’s novel, The House of the Scorpion, follows a character by the name of Matteo Alacrán, who is a clone living in the futuristic world where huge advances and discoveries of scientific technologies have been completed. Matt faces constant hardships from other people, and is treated poorly as if he is an animal, just because he is a clone. In The House of the Scorpion, Farmer creates a futuristic society in which a very powerful person, by the name of E...

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...cerns and issues due to its delicate nature with stem cells and developing human embryos. Stem cells do have the potential to become a full, living human being worthy of dignity and respect. Cloning should not only be used simply for transplants and organs. Farmer’s novel The House of the Scorpion introduces the idea of a society filled with clones and individuals stripped away of their thinking abilities and simply turned into robots. Landau explains in her article, “Cloning Used to Make Stem Cells from Adult Humans," the advancing technologies and near future involving cloning used in day-to-day operations in hospitals. Although cloning may have its benefits to help others with health related issues, it brings up many various ethical issues, and when used incorrectly and immorally, may lead to a society that Farmer created in her novel, The House of the Scorpion.

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