What's the big deal? Nature's already full of clones--your doctor
once told you that you and your twin brother are a form of cloning and
there's nothing particularly bizarre or frightening about the two of you!
Doesn't it come down to the Nature vs. Nurture debate--that individuals
are shaped both by their genetic heritage and by the environment? You
don't really understand all the stuff about how a clone is actually developed,
but if the scientists are telling us that dinosaurs can be genetically
engineered with careful manipulations of their DNA and that they will
exist under controlled environmental conditions, what's the big scare?
What could be cooler than visiting an outdoor theme park and watching
dinosaurs do their thing. They've got to be the biggest, baddest beasts
that ever walked the Earth. Science fiction just doesn't do it anymore;
this will be the REAL thing. Everyone seems to be worried about science
unleashing uncontrollable, violent forces into society, but humans are
used to dealing with all kinds of violence, like inner-city gangs, earthquakes,
killer viruses, etc. Also haven't the newspapers been reporting all the
benefits we derive from genetic engineering, like medicines, better foods,
organ transplant research, etc.? Scientific research on cloning isn't
necessarily a bad thing, we just have to be careful what kind of cloning
is done. Dinosaurs obviously weren't the brightest critters, otherwise
they wouldn't have gone extinct as evolutionary failures, right? So here's
a second chance for them to reinhabit planet Earth while providing some
enjoyment and benefit to humankind. Sounds like a pretty fair deal!
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