Quantum cloning and organ harvesting/eating (hypothetical)

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if technology existed to make an exact copy of yourself in an instant (but the copy was a 100% healthy version, with an intact brain, but no memory), would it be ethical to create a copy of yourself and physically restrain him to harvest his organs to save your own life?

Last edited by Knifey on 05 Sep 2011, 9:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

Who gets to determine ethics, morality, rights in this case?

Inevitably, Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson will escape the vast underground clone city, discovering the true nature of their existence and showing the world where their replacement organs are really coming from

Okay, that was the plot to The Island. But in all seriousness it would be highly unethical and probably highly impossible

The first of which is no predictor of people deciding to do it and the second of which will not kep people from trying,

And in both that and the other one I have seen [British < Japanese original] the security arrangements are disgraceful.

If my grandmother had testicles would she be my grandfather?

ruveyn

i'm actually asking if your ethics would allow you to do this. what is true for YOU and why?

This would be a totally necessary way to clone replacement organs anyway, you can simply clone organs by themselves, it is prohibitively expensive to grow a whole human being just for one organ. If you end up needing the guy or girl's liver or heart they would die afterwards. Much simpler to just "grow" an individual organ, and removes the ethical questions. If you had further advanced technology that could instantaneously create copies it would still be the same situation

in my hypothetical it is the only way for you to get the organs you need to save your life. it recreates you using quantum technology like the tesla coil from "the illusionist" with ed norton.

It is speculated that something like this may be done someday. If adult stem cell technology to clone individual organs, it is likely that whole genetically engineered bodies will be grown that are brain-dead, or have a missing or severely underdeveloped head. If the original person only needs something like a kidney from the clone and the clone can survive the transplant, they can go run for congress.

if its a quantum copy you could agree to the procedure for the copy. because it's you. no?

That question is going to be moot for one very long time, or possibly even forever.

Only if the clone was anencephalic.

But it isn't a clone. It's you, just in a different space at the same time. But in answer to your answer it has the ability to learn and function the same as you do but it temporarily has no memory.

What if I change the hypothetical to say the "clone" would disintegrate within 24 hours what ever you did. The only thing of him that will survive would be his organs if you attached them to yourself. (like on enterprise when they create a clone of trip called "sim" and harvest his brain)

Last edited by Knifey on 01 Sep 2011, 10:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I would not have an issue with cloning organs but cloning people would be wrong and cloning people for the purpose of organ harvesting would be murder.

I think that the ENT episode handled the dilemma of this issue fairly well; everyone was torn up about the issue at the end, but they had to do it because the lives of everyone on the ship depended on that one person. I have no such dependencies to justify killing what would effectively be my twin (NOT "me," since it would not have the experiences which are a significant part of who I am). Once an organism is sentient, the morals of dealing with it become very complex; far more so if it is sapient.

"quantum" copying destroys the original.

ruveyn