Theos-Talk Archives (March 1997 Message tt00005)

Someone commented:

>We can and probably will produce human clones, but they will be
>soulless. The potential for harm seems overwhelming.

The problem I have with this comment is that it seems to be
astray of my own reading of the above quote. Nowhere do I see
HPB using the word "soul" or "soulless," nor do I think HPB is
necessarily writing about cloning here. Rather, she is talking
about the creation of life built `complex combinations' out of
`dissociated elements.' Thus the allusion to Frankenstein, which
was the creation of life out of body parts. The reason why I
make this distinction is because cloning, as I understand it, is
the creation of a genetic double out of the DNA of the original.
In truth, cloning happens in nature from time to time. In
humans, the resulting phenomena are called identical twins.

Rather, I think HPB is talking about here the fabrication of
physical forms sophisticated enough to come to life. We have
been experimenting with this on a very simple level for some time
in our robotics. But the creation of something like Star Trek's
Data is a long way off, and according to the above paragraph,
very unlikely to be as successful.