this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2026

22 points (100.0% liked)

Asklemmy

53264 readers

302 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 6 years ago

MODERATORS

Do you think humans can be cloned as of currently? (I mean, not just a specific part of the body but a whole human) (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 days ago by pir8t0x@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

25 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Just a thought but imagine if by any chance, they have already secretly succeeded in accomplishing this. And imagine if they're already doing it in secret. Do you think this is likely?

all 27 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] Ladislawgrowlo@lemy.lol 2 points 21 hours ago

Yes, I believe some cloned humans already exist at secret military facilities. Area 51. Super Soldier clones.

[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think it's possible. If you can clone a sheep then why not a human?

[–] Ladislawgrowlo@lemy.lol 1 points 21 hours ago

The cloned sheep "Dolly" did not survive very long sadly.

[–] Ryoae@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I hope not. If the billionaires haven't yet figured out how to, then that's a good thing. They'd be clawing to clone themselves if to remain in power.

[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Significant legal challenges exist to prohibit the cloning of humans.

https://www.ruf.rice.edu/~neal/temp/ST%20Policy/index/SCBooklet/World.pdf

[–] Ryoae@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Do you think that's going to stop them?

"Legalities? What's that?"

[–] Ladislawgrowlo@lemy.lol 1 points 21 hours ago

If Epstein files can not stop them why should a law against cloning, which is likely outdated by the time.

[–] TiredTiger@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago

I think this depends upon your definition of success. I think it could be done now such that you could get to a live birth, but not without serious health complications for the clone, probably resulting in an imprinting disorder or maybe something akin to progeria. You'd wind up with a sick infant instead of a healthy adult. Producing a copy of a human being as they are, if that is the definition of success, is still a ways away, probably a decade or more. This is without even considering the ethical issues with human cloning.

[–] DJKJuicy@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Yes, 100% the technology and skill is available today to clone a human.

The ethics are dubious and nobody with that technology and skill is going to attempt it. They're working on lab grown meat and replacement transplant organs.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 4 points 2 days ago

I mean the technology is not that rare. Like the equipment the guy cured his lactose intolerance with (if he truly had) was borrowed but its really just chemicals and centrifuges and pipets until implantation. I mean somone rich enough could easily get a lab going in their mansion but yeah the average suburbanite bight not be able to get it all together.

[+] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 0 points 2 days ago (2 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] BrainInABox@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Least racist piefed user.

[–] Achyu@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

but I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were or could be cloning operations in places like Russia, China, NK and Saudi Arabia, for example.

Would it not be more likely for it to happen in USAmerica or EU?
Make USAmerica great folk may not have an issue of having cloned soldiers. They seem to be having Nazi saluters too

Regarding EU, less likely to be direct, but could be a partner to USAmerican programmes like how they actively go along for USAmerican invasions

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social -2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Make USAmerica great folk

I agree they have the lack of morals, but also they're largely idiots at every level. Literally, the smarter and more competent you are, the less likely you're MAGA. Of course they could try to order research agencies to proceed with such a program, but by the reverse token, such folks would be very likely to leak that info to the press, I think.

The other thing to keep in mind is that MAGA folk simply don't think in terms of long-term planning or ambitious programs. It's usually more about immediate grift, opportunism, punishing their enemies, and so forth.

Europe is a whole 'nother kettle of fish, but I can't really speak to that with sufficient knowledge. And this is all speculation, anyway. Russia, China, & NK are all more likely to me because they're all finished dictatorships, with any opposition largely crushed. They're also far smarter and more cunning then MAGA leadership.

[–] BrainInABox@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yeah, the US would never commit unethical human experiments outside of MAGA types... Surely; only the dastardly foreigners would be so evil. MK ultra? Never heard of it.

[–] spittingimage@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago

I don't think cloning a human would be much harder than a sheep.

[–] monovergent@lemmy.ml 18 points 2 days ago

For sure, if some research institution were motivated enough. I won't speculate if it's happened in secret, but cloning a sheep brings us pretty close to being capable of cloning a human. I would be more surprised if 30 years since the cloning of Dolly, we haven't advanced to the point where the only thing stopping us from cloning humans are ethical concerns.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 8 points 2 days ago

100% it can be. Once it was done in animals there is nothing really keeping it done people and while im 100% on if it has been done secretly I would in no way be shocked to find out it had and think its more likely to have been than not.

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 6 points 2 days ago

I wouldn't be surprised if a human was cloned. The issue right now seems to be resolving the ethical issues over the technical ones.

[–] Nemo@slrpnk.net 5 points 2 days ago

We're either there or close, but just like last time you asked this, nobody's going to do this in secret. They'd be bragging their asses off.

[–] mech@feddit.org 4 points 2 days ago

Currently, no.
They haven't even managed to clone any hominids from adult cells, yet. But they're not far off.

[–] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 3 points 2 days ago

Technically? I don't see why not

[–] theywilleatthestars@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I mean, I don't see why not, but having a clone isn't as big a deal as people think. Identical twins are already natural clones

[–] DFX4509B@lemmy.wtf 1 points 2 days ago

No, and the ethics behind it are too screwed to try it.

[–] TrippinMallard@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Probably not cloning like scifi where exact body scars, broken bones, & memories transferred.

But china did try to hide some cloning human project researcher a while back. Not sure what happened there.