Customer Reviews

Remaking Eden: Cloning and Beyond in a Brave New World

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Few nationally-known experts these days have the bravery to draw the inescapable but politically incorrect conclusion about human cloning: It is inevitable. The current U.S. ban will only encourage rogue states, corporations, and individuals to do it--they'd have a monopoly. In the face of that, the U.S. will be forced to rescind its ban. This book persuasively identifies what will likely occur as a result. I found reading this book to be a fascinating and fun experience.

I really like this book. The author goes to great lengths to logically break down exactly what happens during the fertilization cycle, and how the fetus comes into being. Then he painstakingly discusses the ethical considerations.

There is far too much wildly emotional prose out there on this topic. Sometimes it seems like the commie-bashing of the 90's! This author gives a firm, logical foundation for some very rational, ethical choices and possibilities that loom in the future for all of us.

I think his best quote is that " what makes man special resides between his ears. We are fools if we don't know that." I agree. The futuristic scenarious are very interesting, and have made me realize that cloning will occur in the future and hey -- so what? :-)

In Remaking Eden, Lee M. Silver takes his readers into a very real future, compliments of "reprogenetics." The one difference between Silver's book, and other science fiction books, is that he gives plausible explanations of how the scenarios he presents can be accomplished with today's technology. Remaking Eden is a book for those who want an interesting look into a very possible future of the human race.

Mr Silver puts forward some interesting possibilities, however, haven't we heard them all before? I also found the book to make the broadest of generalisations and assumptions, and in doing so, I believe Mr Silver's approach is somewhat close minded. He virtually proposes 'it's only a matter of time', but what about the matter of choice? The Roman Empire though it was 'only a matter of time' too. Might is not always right. And neither is the majority, or the market. I also think Mr Silver should take the time to correctly acknowledge authorship. e.g. "the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey written by Arthur C. Clarke." The film was also written by Stanley Kubrick. And while he's at it, he could perhaps not misquote things. "I'm sorry Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that." was not a response to a direct request for HAL to turn himself off.

Is cloning ethical, God says in the bible it isn't I believe that if we start to clone people, we will have overpopulated cities, town's and places. Who should be cloned, and who shouldn't? What about in crimes, if you have 2 or more suspects, what are you going to do? My personal opioion's are that it is wrong. Another question, what about the person's soul? What happens to it?

It doesn't take an undergraduate degree in physics for us to predict the implications of the genetic revolution as set out in this book. For a much more cogent and beautifully written tract, I highly recommend Robert Pollack's Signs of Life: Exploring the Language and Meanings of DNA.