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Comment by Jagat | Hacker News Reader

Most identical twins have very similar upbringings and share a lot of genetic code.

And many don't (share an upbringing, that is -- obviously they're genetically identical to at least the level that a clone would be). Twin studies are a foundational technique in studies of heritability. This is really well covered ground.

I think the question stands: what is it about twin studies that is insufficient and needs to be replaced with ethically questionable techniques like cloning?

For those who aren't aware: cloning of vertebrates isn't remotely mature technology. It remains routine for such an organism to be born with significant developmental flaws. Now tell me how you're going to get consent from such an individual pre-conception.

Of course we should not clone people with the unsafe technology, but we should work to improve it to the point where it is as safe as IVF.

The problem with twin studies is that they are not repeatable, and the sample of just two is too small to make any strong conclusions. It's like saying we do not need particle accelerators, because there are high energy particles coming from space.

What about a clone is "repeatable" in a way that a twin study isn't? You aren't planning on controlling the upbringing of a real child, right?

You could have many children (10-100) living in well off families where malnourishment or lack of access to education would not be an issue. And I would gladly control upbringing of a real child, by raising it as my own, why do you think that controlling the upbringing is bad?

By definition, identical twins share all of their genetic code.

Not necessarily true:

https://www.livescience.com/24694-identical-twins-not-identi...

paper (PDF) : https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Constantin_Polychronako...

Sort of. A single person's cells don't really all have identical DNA, because of mutations and so on.

So it's one of those things that depends on how close you are looking.

identical twins do not have identical genetic code.

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