and I used Obama b/c he's a popular figure. I'd have used Bush 2 months ago. It's not meant to be political.

 

I get where you're coming from, but that doesn't make you any less wrong.

it is not an opinion that it won't be the same dog.

it's a FACT that it won't be the same dog.

 

Did you read what he said? Nowhere did he say that it's the same dog, so how can you say that he's wrong? Like he said... open your mind a bit, rather than making your argument before you even read what he said. He's simply saying that these people have the right to spend their money however they want to, and in this case they want to spend their money on creating a clone of their pet. Obviously a clone isn't the same dog. It's simply a dog generated from the same genetic material. That's all these people are paying for.

 

[QUOTE=mxt_77,Feb 3 2009, 07:19 AM]Obviously a clone isn't the same dog.

 

Really? Are you arguing just for the sake of arguing now? We've already offered examples of similar frivolous spending: buying a car that costs a quarter million dollars or more when you could likely commute just as well in a $500 used car; spending $5mil on a house in a fancy neighborhood, when you could be just as comfortable in a much less expensive house in a less 'exclusive' neighborhood.

Sure, I'll concede that spending that kind of money is frivolous, but the fact of the matter is that it's not your money so you really have no say in how they spend it. Maybe some share of the money goes to help advance research on cloning and other technologies. Or maybe these people just did it so they have "bragging rights" or some sort of conversation starter at parties. Who really cares?

I'm now officially classifying this argument as retarded.

 

but its not a house, a car, or any of that.

its a pet, and it will die.

 

Really?
So, do you think that people that buy expensive houses and cars expect to keep them and use them for all eternity? No, they are temporary items just like a pet. And when they get tired of them, they will replace them with new ones. And when this cloned pet dies, they may just as well replace them with another clone.

Seriously, do you even have a point?

 

It's not the same dog, yet it would have genetic characteristics (including the cancer gene) of the previous dog. If I could clone the dog that my family had that lived 16 years I'd love to do it. She'd not be the same dog, but her behavior would be similar and she was a great dog.

 

[QUOTE=mxt_77,Feb 3 2009, 07:57 AM] Really?
So, do you think that people that buy expensive houses and cars expect to keep them and use them for all eternity?

 

ok

say you can get a dog from a breeder or the pound, but you really liked this dog you had, and you can get it cloned.

say that all these things are free. would you get your old dog cloned? i probably would.

so now lets bring money in to it. lets say you're so f'ing ridiculously rich that money means absolutely nothing to you. your decision making process is basically the same as if it were free, because money doesn't enter the equation.