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A Typical Chat at the Bar in 2040
Julian and I meet with some lads for a beer, celebrating our accomplishment.
“Do you remember what you said to Ben back then?” Julian asked as I admired the small plaque given to me earlier in the day at a small ceremony honouring the 100th anniversary of the legalization of cloning and celebrating my achievement with beers all around.
“Sure, I told Ben the results could be staggering. The potential for mankind is too great to allow politics, soft money, or religious zealots to stand in our way.”
Over the years, how I had worded things in that address before Congress troubled me, but when placed beside all that had happened in the years since, the angst those words caused me is moot.
“And they were indeed staggering. You’re on what, your third heart, Harry?”
I nodded, “Now, don’t forget that there were plenty of problems to work out, but given time and a little enlightened thought, work them out; we did. The initial problem to overcome was the funding issue. We had pressed for federal funding at the start because we didn’t expect private industry to jump right into the ethical maelstrom of cloning. But five years after the initial seed money was spent and it became apparent what the technology would be able to achieve, strange…
