Re: The Athena Factor by W. Michael Gear

David Johnston wrote:
On Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:54:59 -0700 (PDT), Robert Carnegie
<rja.carnegie@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jul 10, 1:59�pm, Jack Tingle <wjtin...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 7/10/2010 12:37 AM, David Johnston wrote:





This book is a perfect example of how perhaps it isn't so much that
science fiction is dying, as escaping the ghetto. �You won't find it
under SF in the book stores and libraries. �I found it in "mystery".
And yet, the premise is that an extralegal biotech company has
perfected cloning and is now stealing celebrity DNA to sell baby Julia
Roberts and Mel Gibsons to obsessed fans looking for the ultimate
collectible. �Which..doesn't entirely make sense. �After all, while
there may be a market of loonies who would shell out big bucks for a
celebrity clone, the profits involved are still nothing compared to
what the medical technologies that they've been developing are worth,
and launching.

That's science fiction all right, but it isn't very good science
fiction. �It's not just that scheme is a bit nutty. �There's even a
certain logic to the bad guys making a big production out of stealing
the DNA so they'll be given publicity, so their customers will believe
them about what they have to sell. � But the ending just sort of
arbitrarily...happens.

Oh noes! We iz all gonna be clonze!

Why wouldn't you just contract with Mel and Julia to sell "certified"
clones? Those would be more valuable still. A few bribes to the
government of Absurdistan would make cloning legal, surrogate motherhood
well regulated, and adoption of foreign clones easy. Cash cow! "Now sir,
the clone tax, motherhood fees (may I see the lab, surrogate and midwife
quitclaims, thank you), adoption fees, exit visa fee, administration and
lost future revenue tax and... that comes to $A 2,743,824.96, or $US
3900, even."

You're right, though, the medical technology is far more valuable than
the celebrity clones.

If the book's from 2006, cloning is illegal in the target market,

<shrug> The cloning is all done in international waters or Yemen and
there's no law against importing clones.


and
probably selling your DNA or reproductive material is also illegal.
And icky.

There is no actual law against selling DNA or reproductive material.
In fact don't sperm banks pay?

Well, maybe it's made illegal in the setting of this book. Or maybe
the DNA theft victims made exclusive deals for their DNA with Disney,
or with their health insurer: if somebody else wants some, they can't
legally get it.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: "Why Microsoft Should Fear Intel Macs"
    ... You missed the part about how PC cloning was done "without IBM's blessing." ... IBM had no control over IBM clones. ... Apple had full control over its clones. ... They could have spelled out what type of machines the cloners were allowed to build, in the licensing terms. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: The Athena Factor by W. Michael Gear
    ... science fiction is dying, as escaping the ghetto. ... perfected cloning and is now stealing celebrity DNA to sell baby Julia ... and adoption of foreign clones easy. ... the clone tax, motherhood fees (may I see the lab, surrogate and midwife ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: "Why Microsoft Should Fear Intel Macs"
    ... about how PC cloning was done "without IBM's blessing." ... IBM had no control over IBM clones. ... allowed to build, in the licensing terms. ... Apple stopped cloning because the clone makers thoroughly embarrassed ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: Manual reseal and hiding the "FBReseal" window on 1st boot?
    ... don't understand why this window appears on my clones. ... I'm doing a manual Re-seal before cloning by setting the Reseal Phase ... when it's done it gives me the option to Shutdown or Reboot. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.embedded)
  • Automated Oracle Cloning
    ... Download a full evaluation copy of XClone, ... - 100% Automation of Oracle database and application clones and refreshes. ... Hot Cloning - create clones while your database is still in use. ...
    (Tru64-UNIX-Managers)