The technology exists to clone Stephen Hawking. Although no one has had the nerve to do it, the same technology that was used to clone other animals would work on humans. Various governments and religions have taken a stand declaring cloning humans to be immoral. But I’ve never heard a reason why cloning should be banned.

So I say let’s clone Hawking. Yes, I understand that the clone will not start out with the knowledge or skills of Stephen Hawking. It’s like having an identical twin separated at birth by both space and time. But – is there something genetic about Hawking that would make his clone have the same abilities as Stephen himself? What if the clone were raised in an ideal environment where he was trained by the world’s leading physicists. Would the clone pick up where Hawking left off?

Whether it worked or not we would at a minimum learn a great deal about cloning. The possibility that his skills might live on in the clone would be a gift to the human race.

So – I’d like to open up a discussion as to why we shouldn’t do this. Thoughts?