If you were to be cloned... would your clone have your memories??

Question

Or would it be a whole new you? Or would it be like Deja' Vu to the clone??? And would it make the same mistakes or make better decisions??

Answer 1

by our current scientific method of cloning, definitely not.

we already have the technology to clone probably most mammals. what we do is we take a few cells from an animal, normally from teh blood, and we remove the nucleus. then we take an egg from another animal of the same species, and remove the nucleus of the egg. We insert the nucleus we took from the animal we want to clone back into the egg, and then we insert the egg back into a the female, and we let the egg develop into an embryo, and a baby. After it is born, we what have is an animal that is genetically identical to original animal.

However, the only similarities is that it is genetically identical. It has not gone through the same experiences, and thus cannot have any memories. We currently don't know how exactly memory works, but we know that memory does not get embedded into the genetic code.

This is how cloning really works. It's not like we take a person, and pop up another person from thin air. No, it's just like having a baby, who is genetically the same as someone else.

Edit: natureandromeda does have a good point. Identical twins are clones of each other. Howeve,r they don't share the same mind or memories. Clones are only genetic, and believe ti or not, your DNA does not determine everyhting about you. This brings up the whole nature vs. nurture debate of course, but it is clear that it's not purely nature nor nurture.

And raffcoder, it's not that no one knows. It's virtually certain that memories will not be passed on through the clone. If it does, it means that memory will have to be stored in DNA, which it isn't. We dont' understand how memory works completely, and i've heard theories about it being stored in RNA, but it can't be stored in the genetic code for sure. There is of course, instinctual behavior, which is stored in teh genetic code, but this is not based off memory, it's stuff we have been preprogrammed to do.

Answer 2

Very interesting question. This has been explored in many science fiction books for many years. Based only on my take of the subject, the clone would have none of my memories.

Memories are created by connections of the cells in the brain and are unique to each individual. My memories are the direct result of MY experiences alone. The same would be true of the clone. Upon awakening, the clone would have no experiences to build memories from. Only those things experienced by the clone would be the memories of that clone. I do not have any of the memories of my mother or father. Identical twins do not have the memories of each other, although many of those memories are of the same events.

Now if some method could be created such that each of the unique connections of my brain could be imprinted on the brain of the clone, then the clone would have "my" memories. Of course, as the clone continues throught its life and t experiences different things than I do, its memories would become more and more different from my memories.

Answer 3

No one knows. Well, except maybe Dolly the sheep, and she's not talking.

The reason is 1) we've never cloned a human before, and 2) we don't know how memories are stored in the brain.

But my guess is that the answer is no - memories would not be passed on to the clone.

If the clone gets just one set of DNA, or just one cell, and nothing else from the donor, that means that all those memories have to be stored somehow in that cell or that set of DNA. And even though a brain can apparently squeeze memories into a very small space, a cell or a DNA molecule is still pretty tiny.

Answer 4

No because memories are aquired over a lifetime and are not completely dependent on genetic information embedded in DNA therefore they are not inheritable either. Depending on how old you were when you were cloned you may not even look the same. Identical twins are completely the same genetically but it is all dependent on chance on which traits will be "turned on or off" so to speak on what personalities would be like and other features. But I believe in multiple lives and that since a new life is being created, it may not even be you that returns to your body, another soul could.

Answer 5

Identical twins are naturally occurring clones. They have identical DNA. A clone would be an entirely new person in terms of memories and decisions

Answer 6

That is a great question I think it would be Deja'Vu to the clone and I think they would make exactly the same mistakes you did with your DNA.