Felix, Felix, and More Felix
Welcome to the Twilight Zone:
This woman has spent more on an animal that she could have gotten for free from the Humane Society than I will have spent for five years at university, including textbooks. Still, I'm not terribly hung up on this; I think it's a bit excessive for people to clone their old pets, but I'm in favor of developing this technology, within ethical reason. By ethical reason, I mean that I'm not much of a proponent of human cloning, though I'm all for limited human cloning if they can make individual organs and such. Also, creating entire humans in order to harvest them for organs is, I think, unethical. Paying fifty thousand dollars for a cat pushes the limits of ethical reason, but the research won't get done if there's not a market for it, and if this frivolous use of money helps them develop a way to grow individual organs, it's alright by me.
One thing that's worth pointing out...
To this, I have two answers. The first is a simple phrase: buyer beware. If someone is willing to part with this kind of money, they've likely researched the situation, weighed the pros and cons, and considered the risks. In a situation such as this, it's not the responsibility of the critic to babysit the consumer.
Second... So what if the technology is available only to the wealthy? It's the wealthy that make things happen in our system, not the inefficient government or the ineffective poor. The wealth of other people should act as an incentive to every poor person in America to work harder, or work smarter, and develop a skill or an idea to make themselves wealthier. I'm a university student, which basically precludes me from having any money. I don't fault some woman in Texas who has enough money to buy a cloned cat! Technology, comfort, wealth, and the like are not entitlements; my ability to breathe does not entitle me to these things. That's the beauty of capitalism! It rewards hard work and ingenuity, and punishes laziness, ignorance, and stupidity!
When rich people buy a cloned cat, or a widescreen flat-panel plasma television, or a mobile camera phone, or a Schiatsu massage (with happy ending?), that's a reward they've earned by succeeding, and that person's purchase and receipt of such goods or services does not punish those who are too lazy, unambitious, or stupid to earn these things themselves. It's rich people's interest in these technologies and services that get them developed and on the market in the first place.
The bottom line? If you're poor, don't whine because people who have worked and succeeded have nicer things than you do. If you're rich enough to buy a fifty thousand dollar cat, I have two suggestions. My first suggestion is that you think twice before spending that sort of money on a cat, as it could probably be better used elsewhere. If you decide to go ahead and get the cat, I thank you for encouraging economic and scientific development, and highly recommend that you contact me, as I'd love to show you some prime beach front property on a little South Pacific atoll that's been quiet for about fifty years now.
SAN FRANCISCO - The first cloned-to-order pet sold in the United States is named Little Nicky, a 9-week-old kitten delivered to a Texas woman saddened by the loss of a cat she had owned for 17 years.
The kitten cost its owner $50,000 and was cloned from a beloved cat, named Nicky, that died last year. Nicky’s owner banked the cat’s DNA, which was used to create the clone.
This woman has spent more on an animal that she could have gotten for free from the Humane Society than I will have spent for five years at university, including textbooks. Still, I'm not terribly hung up on this; I think it's a bit excessive for people to clone their old pets, but I'm in favor of developing this technology, within ethical reason. By ethical reason, I mean that I'm not much of a proponent of human cloning, though I'm all for limited human cloning if they can make individual organs and such. Also, creating entire humans in order to harvest them for organs is, I think, unethical. Paying fifty thousand dollars for a cat pushes the limits of ethical reason, but the research won't get done if there's not a market for it, and if this frivolous use of money helps them develop a way to grow individual organs, it's alright by me.
One thing that's worth pointing out...
Critics also complain that the technology is available only to the wealthy, that using it to create house pets is frivolous and that customers grieving over lost pets have unrealistic expectations of what they’re buying.
To this, I have two answers. The first is a simple phrase: buyer beware. If someone is willing to part with this kind of money, they've likely researched the situation, weighed the pros and cons, and considered the risks. In a situation such as this, it's not the responsibility of the critic to babysit the consumer.
Second... So what if the technology is available only to the wealthy? It's the wealthy that make things happen in our system, not the inefficient government or the ineffective poor. The wealth of other people should act as an incentive to every poor person in America to work harder, or work smarter, and develop a skill or an idea to make themselves wealthier. I'm a university student, which basically precludes me from having any money. I don't fault some woman in Texas who has enough money to buy a cloned cat! Technology, comfort, wealth, and the like are not entitlements; my ability to breathe does not entitle me to these things. That's the beauty of capitalism! It rewards hard work and ingenuity, and punishes laziness, ignorance, and stupidity!
When rich people buy a cloned cat, or a widescreen flat-panel plasma television, or a mobile camera phone, or a Schiatsu massage (with happy ending?), that's a reward they've earned by succeeding, and that person's purchase and receipt of such goods or services does not punish those who are too lazy, unambitious, or stupid to earn these things themselves. It's rich people's interest in these technologies and services that get them developed and on the market in the first place.
The bottom line? If you're poor, don't whine because people who have worked and succeeded have nicer things than you do. If you're rich enough to buy a fifty thousand dollar cat, I have two suggestions. My first suggestion is that you think twice before spending that sort of money on a cat, as it could probably be better used elsewhere. If you decide to go ahead and get the cat, I thank you for encouraging economic and scientific development, and highly recommend that you contact me, as I'd love to show you some prime beach front property on a little South Pacific atoll that's been quiet for about fifty years now.
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