Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 12:52:17 -0800 (PST)
From: Cathy Green <dalek_cag at yahoo.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Fwd: Writer with a question . . .
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

Don't forget the trope that all clones from the same
batch are telepathic and/or have a geshtalt identity.

--cathy
--- Steve Smith <sgs at aginc.net> wrote:
> Ted White wrote:
>
> > Go with the simplist and least technical material.
>  There is no point in
> > loading your story with techno-facts, the broad
> details of which are
> > already common public knowledge.   SF (not
> "sci-fi") stories use present
> > science only as a jumping-off point.
> >
> > --Ted White
>
> Yup.  Even if he gets it right, it will look quaint
> in a couple of
> years.  See George O. Smith's earlier "Venus
> Equilateral" stories for
> the classic examples.
>
> That said, he needs a minimum of technical
> knowledge.  Some of the
> things that drive me crazy in bad cloning stories:
>
> *  Cloning involves using cells from the critter to
> be cloned.  *Which*
> cells are not critical.  Getting "donor" cells is no
> big deal at all.
>
> *  The cloning process produces a fertilized ovum.
> The process from
> there on is normal development.  Cloning does not
> provide a
> "duplicator", where you get a donor cell and an hour
> later you have a
> duplicate person, complete with memories.
>
> *  Cloning provides an individidual with the same
> nuclear DNA as the
> donor.  Lotsa characteristics don't depend on
> nuclear DNA.  For humans,
> upbringing would probably be a critical factor.  Not
> only will the clone
> not be completely identical to the donor, it
> probably wouldn't even be
> close psychologically.
>
> Anyway, here's a brief article on Cc:, the cloned
> kitten:
> <http://www.nature.com/nsu/020211/020211-13.html>
>
> --
> Steve Smith
>  sgs at aginc.net
> Agincourt Computing
> http://www.aginc.net
> "Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has
> to make sense."
>

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