From: "Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Fwd: Writer with a question . . .
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 19:13:14 -0500
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Smith" <sgs at aginc.net>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 2:28 PM
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Fwd: Writer with a question . . .

> 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.

I'm not too sure about that last point.  Our best research into human
clones is our research into identical twins, who are essentially clones of
each other (identical DNA) albeit apparently one is the mirror image of the
other.  It has been found that identical twins separated at birth and
raised by separate, different families, still had similar personality
quirks, tastes (smoked the same brand of cigarette), etc.

--Ted White