Some guys in Russia want to clone a mammoth. According to the article I read, they think they can make an elephant/mammoth hybrid. They can do this, they say, because an elephant only has one more base pair of chromosomes than a mammoth. Of course, they say, it won't be a full-blooded mammoth, but after a few generations they think they can breed the elephant genes out.

This is wrong in so many ways. I don't mean ethically, I mean scientifically. First of all, one pair of chromosomes is a lot. A chimpanzee has one more pair of chromosomes than a man, and no one is trying to clone one of those (although I wonder what one would look like; working in the convention district I think I have a pretty good idea....and anyway, what would we call it? I think a good name would be humanzee). Second, hybrids usually can't reproduce. Third, even if they could, how are you going to breed the elephant genes out unless they have a full-blooded mammoth to breed them with?

Anyway, I think it would be a good idea to clone a mammoth. It seems like they find them frozen in the ice in Siberia all the time. I wonder if people try to eat them. They say they're well-preserved, but I've been reminded that they have all that blood in them, too. Cloning them may be the only way to find out what one tastes like.

I'm all for cloning. I say we clone anything we can get our hands on. I saw once where someone had a lock of hair from Abraham Lincoln. Should we clone it? Do we dare? Would we be violating our moral and ethical obligations by tampering with the very building blocks of life?

Who cares? I say we clone it just to see what'll happen.

Now I know that a person's personality is shaped by a great many factors and genetics probably doesn't play that big a role in it. I just think it would be funny. Especially if you cloned Lincoln and he turned out to be a real jerk.

But where do we draw the line? Who should decide who gets cloned and who doesn't? Should we clone Hitler or Stalin? Will it only be the rich and elite who get to be cloned? Well, sure, but so what? The rich and the elite are the only ones being elected President or going into space. And if Lincoln can turn out to be a jerk, why can't Hitler or Stalin turn out to be nice guys?

Now I'll tell you where I do draw the line. Jurassic Park. I mean, so this old guy figures out how to clone a dinosaurs. Good for him. What logically follows is 1) Let's clone every single dinosaur there is, and 2) Let's clone a hundred million of them. And then act surprised when they try to eat us.