Synopsis

2. Synopsis In a few decades ... Lincoln 6-Echo and his friend Jordan 2-Delta live, as a hundreds of Products », in a cast underground community where life is tightly controlled and ruled by strict codes. The only hope of escaping this sterile sphere is to be selected to be transferred on « The Island ». It is decribed, by the leaders of the community, as the last place which survived to the ecological catastrophy which devastated our Earth few years before and made the atmosphere unbreathable. Lincoln, as all his peers, believed for a long at this paradise. But, for quite some time now, recurring nightmares disturbed his nights, and he started to question the meaning of his life and the restrictations to his freedom. Impelled by a tenacious curiosity, Lincoln will soon discover the unbearable truth ...

3. Technology • Cloning of human beings • Goal: humans have living clone to have access to a second source of their own organs. Long term goal: immortality • How is it used in the society: • Clones have to be alive and active (not in a lethargy state) • They live in a closed world kept secret from the rest of the society • Clones are under permanent control and have no awareness of the outside world • Other surrounding technologies: • Monitoring of cerebral activity • Electronic and interactive bracelet containing personal information

4. Obstacles to implement the technology • Technological obstacles: • In the movie, clones are “born” directly at the adult stage. Gestation is done in a bag and not through human body. • Ethical obstacles: • “Living organ bank”: Using and killing human beings • Identity issue for the clones • Meaning of life: can a clone be considered as a simple “product”?

5. Overcoming the issues • Technological improvements: being able to clone human beings, directly as adults • Changes in ethical standards: • Acceptance of sacrificing humans to let other people live • Identity issue for the clones (being a copy of someone else) • Institutional requirements: authorization by law • Strategy: • Investing in R&D to develop the technology • Lobbying on the opinion leaders and governments to make the mentality evolve and create laws • Prove the usefulness of the technology to save lives • Take advantage of a potential catastrophy (use people’s fear to introduce our technology)

6. Consequences • Benefits: • Save lives, cure diseases • Extend life span • Plastic surgery • Solution for unfertile parents • Harmful effects to the society: • Expensive technology affordable only to rich people: unfairness (organ and human trade) • Creating life to destroy it

7. Our opinion • In our point of view, it is inacceptable to create conscioushumanbeings for the purpose of usingthem. • It is a totally different way to conceive life: we give birth out of love, and not to use it as a business tool • However, we do not know how our mentalities and values are going to evolve, and maybe the acceptance of this idea will be possible in a far future (not as immoral as in the movie). Even having clones (without using them as organ bank or product) would rise serious society concerns (loss of identity, unnatural way of procreating, unnatural regulation of populations, creation of only perfect human beings, …).

8. Conclusion • Cloning parts of human body in a larger scale will probably be possible for medical purposes • But cloning whole human beings is unlikely to happen because it is against all ethical standards