Raëlism

Raëlism is the belief system promoted by the Raëlian Movement, a quasi-religious organization which believes that scientifically advanced extraterrestrials known as the Elohim (taken from the Hebrew texts of the Christian Bible and the Torah and usually translated into God in English but translated by those who came from the sky in the Raëlian message) created life on Earth through genetic engineering, and that a combination of human cloning and "mind transfer" can ultimately provide immortality. Raëlism is a new religious movement and has been perc ...

Including:

• Raëlism - The Elohim
• Raëlism - Immortality through science?
• Raëlism - Confusion about human cloning
• Raëlism - Confusion about reincarnation
• Raëlism - Order of Angels
• Raëlism - Geniocracy
• Raëlism - Criticism and the Allegation of being a Cult
• Raëlism - Related Religious Movements

Read more here: » Raëlism: Encyclopedia - Raëlism

During the height of the cloning story several news sources started listing Raelism as a cult. Amongst the more noteworthy to do so was the Guardian and Salon. As they had a living founder, unpopular ethical stances, and had become involved in a media controversy, this allegation is arguably unsurprising. Further, some claimed that Raël used donations for his own benefit - but this has never been substantiated and all financial records of the Raëlian Movement are open for inspection by any member. Despite the amounts of bad press and alleg ...

See also:

Raëlism, Raëlism - The Elohim, Raëlism - Immortality through science?, Raëlism - Confusion about human cloning, Raëlism - Confusion about reincarnation, Raëlism - Order of Angels, Raëlism - Geniocracy, Raëlism - Criticism and the Allegation of being a Cult, Raëlism - Related Religious Movements

Read more here: » Raëlism: Encyclopedia II - Raëlism - Criticism and the Allegation of being a Cult

During the height of the cloning story several news sources listed Raelism as a cult. Amongst the more noteworthy to do so was the Guardian and Salon. As Raëlism has a living founder, unpopular ethical stances, and had become involved in a media controversy, this allegation is unsurprising. Further, some have claimed that Raël himself has used donations for his own benefit - but this has never been substantiated and all financial records of the Raëlian Movement are supposedly open for inspection by any member. Despite the ...

See also:

Raëlism, Raëlism - The Elohim, Raëlism - Immortality through science?, Raëlism - Confusion about human cloning, Raëlism - Confusion about reincarnation, Raëlism - Order of Angels, Raëlism - Geniocracy, Raëlism - Criticism and the Allegation of being a Cult, Raëlism - Related Religious Movements

Read more here: » Raëlism: Encyclopedia II - Raëlism - Criticism and the Allegation of being a Cult

Unarians are a group headquartered in El Cajon, California who believe that through the use of fourth dimensional physics, they're able to communicate with supposed advanced intelligent beings that allegedly exist on higher frequency planes. Like Scientologists, Unarians believe in past lives and that our solar system was once inhabited by ancient interplanetary civilizations. Although they probably have more similarity to the Aetherius Society or the Raëlism as they emphasize "space brothers" who will come from the stars in 33 space ...

Read more here: » Unarius Academy of Science: Encyclopedia - Unarius Academy of Science

In 1998, 2001, and 2003 the US House of Representatives voted whether to ban all human cloning, both reproductive and therapeutic. Each time, divisions in the Senate over therapeutic cloning prevented either competing proposal (a ban on both forms or reproductive cloning only) from passing. President George W. Bush is opposed to human cloning in any form. Some states ban both forms of cloning, while some others outlaw only reproductive cloning. Current regulations prohibit federal funding for research into human cloning, which effecti ...

See also:

Human cloning, Human cloning - Understanding cloning, Human cloning - Techniques, Human cloning - Limits of cloning, Human cloning - The current status of cloned-embryo research, Human cloning - Hwang Woo-Suk, Human cloning - Risks of growing a cloned embryo to term, Human cloning - Claims of success in human cloning beyond the embryo stage, Human cloning - Possible advantages, Human cloning - The current law on human cloning, Human cloning - Human cloning in fiction

Read more here: » Human cloning: Encyclopedia II - Human cloning - The current law on human cloning

Eugenics - Galton's theory. Selective breeding was suggested at least as far back as Plato, who believed human reproduction should be controlled by government. He recorded these views in his famous dialogue "The Republic." "The best men must have intercourse with the best women as frequently as possible, and the opposite is true of the very inferior." Plato proposed that selection be performed by a fake lottery so people's feelings wouldn't be hurt by any awareness of selection principles. Other ancient examples include the city of Sparta's mythical practice of leaving weak babies outside of city bor ...

See also:

Eugenics, Eugenics - What is eugenics?, Eugenics - History, Eugenics - Galton's theory, Eugenics - Eugenics and the state 1890s-1945, Eugenics - Stigmatization of eugenics in the post-Nazi years, Eugenics - Modern eugenics and genetic engineering, Eugenics - Criticism, Eugenics - Pseudoscience, Eugenics - Objectification of hereditary traits, Eugenics - Slippery slope, Eugenics - Genetic diversity, Eugenics - Counterarguments, Eugenics - Eugenics in popular culture

Read more here: » Eugenics: Encyclopedia II - Eugenics - History

First, none of these techniques provide exact clones -- they would be 99.7% identical to the DNA donor, because some important genes are present outside the nucleus, in mitochondria for example. Some of the DNA of the DNA donor would be missing for the clone to be an exact copy, and some of the resulting clone DNA would come from the donor egg-cell. How much change this would lead to in the clone is being investigated, but it could spell problems for therapeutic cloning, where compatibi ...

See also:

Human cloning, Human cloning - Understanding cloning, Human cloning - Techniques, Human cloning - Limits of cloning, Human cloning - The current status of cloned-embryo research, Human cloning - Hwang Woo-Suk, Human cloning - Risks of growing a cloned embryo to term, Human cloning - Claims of success in human cloning beyond the embryo stage, Human cloning - Possible advantages, Human cloning - The current law on human cloning, Human cloning - Human cloning in fiction

Read more here: » Human cloning: Encyclopedia II - Human cloning - Limits of cloning

Eugenics is a recurrent theme in science fiction (often dystopian) - the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley explores the theme in depth, as does the more recent (and up-to-date on the science) movie Gattaca, whose plot turns around genetic testing. Boris Vian (under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan) takes a more light-hearted approach in his novel Et on tuera tous les affreux. Other novels touching upon the subject include The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper and That Hideous Strength by C ...

See also:

Eugenics, Eugenics - What is eugenics?, Eugenics - History, Eugenics - Galton's theory, Eugenics - Eugenics and the state 1890s-1945, Eugenics - Stigmatization of eugenics in the post-Nazi years, Eugenics - Modern eugenics and genetic engineering, Eugenics - Criticism, Eugenics - Pseudoscience, Eugenics - Objectification of hereditary traits, Eugenics - Slippery slope, Eugenics - Genetic diversity, Eugenics - Counterarguments, Eugenics - Eugenics in popular culture

Read more here: » Eugenics: Encyclopedia II - Eugenics - Eugenics in popular culture

Eugenics - Pseudoscience. While the science of genetics has increasingly provided means by which certain characteristics and conditions can be identified and understood, given the complexity of human genetics and culture, there is no agreed objective means of determining which characteristics might be ultimately desirable or undesirable. If eugenicists claim that this can be determined by empirical investigation, they are vulnerable to the charge that their views amount to a pseudoscience, a term that refers to any field that isn't scientific but is s ...

See also:

Eugenics, Eugenics - What is eugenics?, Eugenics - History, Eugenics - Galton's theory, Eugenics - Eugenics and the state 1890s-1945, Eugenics - Stigmatization of eugenics in the post-Nazi years, Eugenics - Modern eugenics and genetic engineering, Eugenics - Criticism, Eugenics - Pseudoscience, Eugenics - Objectification of hereditary traits, Eugenics - Slippery slope, Eugenics - Genetic diversity, Eugenics - Counterarguments, Eugenics - Eugenics in popular culture

Read more here: » Eugenics: Encyclopedia II - Eugenics - Criticism

Definitions of the term vary. The term eugenics is often used to refer to a movement and social policy that was influential during the first half of the 20th century. In an historical and broader sense, eugenics can also be a study of "improving human genetic qualities". It is sometimes more broadly applied to describe any human action whose goal is to improve the gene pool. Some forms of infanticide in ancient societies, present-day reprogenetics, pre-emptive abortions and designer babies have been (somet ...

See also:

Eugenics, Eugenics - What is eugenics?, Eugenics - History, Eugenics - Galton's theory, Eugenics - Eugenics and the state 1890s-1945, Eugenics - Stigmatization of eugenics in the post-Nazi years, Eugenics - Modern eugenics and genetic engineering, Eugenics - Criticism, Eugenics - Pseudoscience, Eugenics - Objectification of hereditary traits, Eugenics - Slippery slope, Eugenics - Genetic diversity, Eugenics - Counterarguments, Eugenics - Eugenics in popular culture

Read more here: » Eugenics: Encyclopedia II - Eugenics - What is eugenics?

In 2004, a group of scientists led by Hwang Woo-Suk of Seoul National University in Korea claimed to have grown 30 cloned human embryos to the one-week stage, and then successfully harvested stem cells from them. The results of their experiment were published in the peer-reviewed journal Science. On May 30, 2005, Hwang's team announced the creation of 11 lines of human stem cells, using a different technique (Hwang et al. 2005). Later in 2005, a pattern of lies and fraud by Hwang Woo-Suk came to light, throwing in doubt all his claims. Finally in 2006, ...

See also:

Human cloning, Human cloning - Understanding cloning, Human cloning - Techniques, Human cloning - Limits of cloning, Human cloning - The current status of cloned-embryo research, Human cloning - Hwang Woo-Suk, Human cloning - Risks of growing a cloned embryo to term, Human cloning - Claims of success in human cloning beyond the embryo stage, Human cloning - Possible advantages, Human cloning - The current law on human cloning, Human cloning - Human cloning in fiction

Read more here: » Human cloning: Encyclopedia II - Human cloning - Hwang Woo-Suk

In 1998, South Korean scientists claimed to have created the first cloned human embryo, but the results were never published and many doubt that they had done so. In the November 25, 2001, issue of the Journal of Regenerative Medicine, a US company Advanced Cell Technology claimed that it had successfully created a clone of a human, in the form of an embryo. ACT vice president Dr. Robert Lanza said that the company's intention was to use this in ...

See also:

Human cloning, Human cloning - Understanding cloning, Human cloning - Techniques, Human cloning - Limits of cloning, Human cloning - The current status of cloned-embryo research, Human cloning - Hwang Woo-Suk, Human cloning - Risks of growing a cloned embryo to term, Human cloning - Claims of success in human cloning beyond the embryo stage, Human cloning - Possible advantages, Human cloning - The current law on human cloning, Human cloning - Human cloning in fiction

Read more here: » Human cloning: Encyclopedia II - Human cloning - The current status of cloned-embryo research

Currently the most successful cloning technique is the same process which allowed Dolly the sheep to be cloned - somatic cell nuclear transfer. It is also the technique used by ACT, the first company to successfully clone a human embryo (see research section below). An egg cell taken from a donor has its nucleus removed. Another cell with the genetic material to be cloned is fused with the original cell. Another way of cloning is by parthenogenesis, where an unfertilized egg cell is induced to divide and grow as if it were ferti ...

See also:

Human cloning, Human cloning - Understanding cloning, Human cloning - Techniques, Human cloning - Limits of cloning, Human cloning - The current status of cloned-embryo research, Human cloning - Hwang Woo-Suk, Human cloning - Risks of growing a cloned embryo to term, Human cloning - Claims of success in human cloning beyond the embryo stage, Human cloning - Possible advantages, Human cloning - The current law on human cloning, Human cloning - Human cloning in fiction

Read more here: » Human cloning: Encyclopedia II - Human cloning - Techniques

In 1978 David Rorvik claimed in his book In His Image: The Cloning of a Man that he had personal knowledge of the creation of a human clone. A court case followed. He failed to produce corroborating evidence to back up his claims, and his claims are now regarded as a hoax. Severino Antinori made claims in November 2002 that a project to clone human beings has succeeded, with the first human clone d ...

See also:

Human cloning, Human cloning - Understanding cloning, Human cloning - Techniques, Human cloning - Limits of cloning, Human cloning - The current status of cloned-embryo research, Human cloning - Hwang Woo-Suk, Human cloning - Risks of growing a cloned embryo to term, Human cloning - Claims of success in human cloning beyond the embryo stage, Human cloning - Possible advantages, Human cloning - The current law on human cloning, Human cloning - Human cloning in fiction

Read more here: » Human cloning: Encyclopedia II - Human cloning - Claims of success in human cloning beyond the embryo stage

Many hopes have been put upon human cloning. Therapeutic cloning could provide needed organ transplants. A cure for cancer by a better understanding of the cell-differentiation process, as well as better treatments for heart attacks and improved cosmetic surgery, are being cited as being possible with the new technology. Dr. Richard Seed thinks that human cloning will help us understand, and eventually reverse, the human aging process. Antinori and Zavos hope to create a fertility treatment that allows parents who are both infertile t ...

See also:

Human cloning, Human cloning - Understanding cloning, Human cloning - Techniques, Human cloning - Limits of cloning, Human cloning - The current status of cloned-embryo research, Human cloning - Hwang Woo-Suk, Human cloning - Risks of growing a cloned embryo to term, Human cloning - Claims of success in human cloning beyond the embryo stage, Human cloning - Possible advantages, Human cloning - The current law on human cloning, Human cloning - Human cloning in fiction

Read more here: » Human cloning: Encyclopedia II - Human cloning - Possible advantages

Reproductive cloning has supporters such as the scientists Panayiotis Zavos, Brigitte Boisselier, and Severino Antinori. Antinori had claimed that a cloned baby would be possible before 2003. However, the majority of scientists, including Ian Wilmut, who led the team that cloned Dolly the sheep at the Roslin Institute, claim that there are many further complications to reproductive human cloning in its current form. Aside from the ethical questions involved, the scientists claim that it is simply too risky. In a debate for the American Natio ...

See also:

Human cloning, Human cloning - Understanding cloning, Human cloning - Techniques, Human cloning - Limits of cloning, Human cloning - The current status of cloned-embryo research, Human cloning - Hwang Woo-Suk, Human cloning - Risks of growing a cloned embryo to term, Human cloning - Claims of success in human cloning beyond the embryo stage, Human cloning - Possible advantages, Human cloning - The current law on human cloning, Human cloning - Human cloning in fiction

Read more here: » Human cloning: Encyclopedia II - Human cloning - Risks of growing a cloned embryo to term

According to Raël, a message of the human origin was dictated to him in December 1973 in personal meetings with a 25,000-year-old extraterrestrial who came in a UFO. The story goes that after terraforming of Earth, human beings from another planet - the "Elohim" (Hebrew for the word "God" as found in the Hebrew Old Testament) - which the alleged extraterrestrial himself translated as meaning those who came from the sky) created humans and all life on earth using DNA manipulation and genetic engineering. The message dictated to Raël ...

See also:

Raëlism, Raëlism - The Elohim, Raëlism - Immortality through science?, Raëlism - Confusion about human cloning, Raëlism - Confusion about reincarnation, Raëlism - Order of Angels, Raëlism - Geniocracy, Raëlism - Criticism and the Allegation of being a Cult, Raëlism - Related Religious Movements

Read more here: » Raëlism: Encyclopedia II - Raëlism - The Elohim

The Raëlians believe that immortality through science will one day be possible. The prophet Raël explains that this will be achieved through the following steps: creating a genetically identical copy of someone by human cloning causing the clone to mature much, much faster than normal (Raël makes the statement that in future scientists will discover a so-called "accelerated-growth process" - see mention on CNN. Then in a process like guided self-assembly of rapidly expanded cells or even nanotechnological assembly a ...

See also:

Raëlism, Raëlism - The Elohim, Raëlism - Immortality through science?, Raëlism - Confusion about human cloning, Raëlism - Confusion about reincarnation, Raëlism - Order of Angels, Raëlism - Geniocracy, Raëlism - Criticism and the Allegation of being a Cult, Raëlism - Related Religious Movements

Read more here: » Raëlism: Encyclopedia II - Raëlism - Immortality through science?

According to Raël, a message of the human origin was dictated to him in December 1973 in personal meetings with a 25,000-year-old extraterrestrial who came in a UFO. The story goes that after terraforming of Earth, human beings from another planet (the "Elohim" - which the alleged extraterrestrial himself translated as meaning those who came from the sky) created humans and all life on earth using DNA manipulation and genetic engineering. The message dictated to Raël during his encounter with the Elohim states that the Elohim sent all the prophets who were at the origin of the main religions ...

See also:

Raëlism, Raëlism - The Elohim, Raëlism - Immortality through science?, Raëlism - Confusion about human cloning, Raëlism - Confusion about reincarnation, Raëlism - Order of Angels, Raëlism - Geniocracy, Raëlism - Criticism and the Allegation of being a Cult, Raëlism - Related Religious Movements

Read more here: » Raëlism: Encyclopedia II - Raëlism - The Elohim

It is important not to be confused by different uses of the word "cloning". In the scientific community, cloning refers only to the creation of a genetically identical individual. Note that "genetically identical" does not mean altogether identical; this kind of cloning does not reproduce a person's memories or experience, for example. In discussions of Raëlism, cloning sometimes seems to refer not only to biological cloning, but to biological human cloning plus mind and/or brain transfer ...

See also:

Raëlism, Raëlism - The Elohim, Raëlism - Immortality through science?, Raëlism - Confusion about human cloning, Raëlism - Confusion about reincarnation, Raëlism - Order of Angels, Raëlism - Geniocracy, Raëlism - Criticism and the Allegation of being a Cult, Raëlism - Related Religious Movements

Read more here: » Raëlism: Encyclopedia II - Raëlism - Confusion about human cloning