Would it matter if you were swapped with a clone?

There are many controversies on the subject of cloning. There are issues on the morality of it, for a very large percentage of cloning efforts end in failure, and those that do survive often have fatal or problem causing issues in their genes. For example, it took 277 attempts to clone Dolly the sheep (the first animal to be cloned). Also cloning will stop genetic improvements to a species. This is because genetic improvements usually occur through sexual reproduction, which result in a mixing of the genes of the mother and father.

The scientific consensus is that a large proportion of what makes us up is actually determined in our genes. But I would like to think that my personality and persona is down to me and my actions. My likes and dislikes, opinions and morals are all unique to me and I think paramount in my makeup, just as important as my physical appearance. I think that if I was cloned, although it would look identical to me would only really be half of me, for all my thoughts and feelings would not be copied across.

A large part of what I am now is due to my past, and most of all my memories. My memories are what make life special, as they capture a snapshot of everything good that has happened in your life. But of course, if I were to be replaced by a clone, I would have no memory of my passed, as if I had been reborn, therefore possibly altering my future decisions, as the cliché goes, “you always learn from your mistakes”.

On a religious side, there are two passages in the Bible that bear directly on the issue of men playing God. The first is in Genesis, when Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden for taking fruit from the tree of knowledge and presuming to obtain God's wisdom. Also, in Genesis 11 is the story of the Tower of Babel. Humans, with the help of a common language, were on the verge of building a tower all the way to Heaven. But God did not approve.

However there are some arguments for cloning. Cloning is already occurring naturally in nature. Examples of this are strawberry plants, potatoes, grass, onions and bacteria. Cloning could enable people to raise an identical child after an unfortunate death, and also save endangered species.

Although the concept of cloning could potentially prove vital in modern science, I think at this stage of its development, it would matter if I were swapped for a clone because despite the physical similarities, all my personal information stored in my brain that defines who I am would be wiped out, making me only half human.