Someday they'll want us

Jeff Wilson · 27 Jun 2010, 20:22 · from 2010-June.txt.gz

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From: jwilson at io.com (Jeff Wilson)
Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2010 15:22:08 -0500
Subject: (urth) Someday they'll want us
In-Reply-To: <4C274809.4010200 at gmail.com>
References: <599a1.4a36aa8c.3957b496 at aol.com>	<D6F116515A9049139681FAD80EAC38B3@jill>
	<4C274809.4010200 at gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4C27B2F0.6000603 at io.com>

On 6/27/2010 7:46 AM, James Wynn wrote:
>
>> Why have a robot raise the children? It seems to me that it's to
>> ensure that the education they receive is exactly the same.
>
> The purpose of their education was to observe the differences in
> intelligence and adaptability between the clone (N5) and the "control"
> (David). This experiment could not be performed in a sterile environment
> in any other setting. The variant chance experiences would be impossible
> to calculate.

I'm not sure this can be a valid controlled experiment other than on the 
purely genetic level, where technically #5 is the control (no introduced 
variation) and David would be the "treatement group" in that he 
represents some sort of deviation from the numbered series. 
Behaviorally, it's not controlled at all, since both boys are being 
raised with companions different from themselves rather than alone or 
with fellow clones of #1.

And this may be the point in that outside of #1's discovery of the 
cloning technique, the clones are hacks who are hazy on experimental 
science, explaining the emphasis on history and evolutionary biology as 
fields safely free of experimental possibilities (at the time of writing).

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
IEEE Student Chapter Blog at
< http://ieeetamut.org >

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