Say we are able to mass produce clones for our clone army and give them memories. Then we decide to give them the same template/personality/identity/etc.
What psychological effects would this have on the clones?
EDIT : They know they're clones.
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$\begingroup$ Could you include a guess why you think this might be an issue? Clones are basically just other people that share all of your DNA instead of most of it. I don't really see the difference to other human interactions. Also, making an army out of one single person is irrational unless this person is engineered to be optimal at everything. In that case, well, also engineer the psyche ... I mean you already implant the personality $\endgroup$– Raditz_35Aug 12, 2018 at 9:38
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$\begingroup$ Very important question: do the clones all know they are clones of each other, or do they believe themselves to be distinct individuals? $\endgroup$– F1KrazyAug 12, 2018 at 9:40
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1$\begingroup$ Depends on the psychology of the individuals ( e.g. a room full of sociopaths is quite different from a room full of "average" people ). For fun reference purposes try the Ba'al character in the TV series SG-1 (played wonderfully by Cliff Simon) or Stargate Atlantis' episodes with various copies of varies characters interacting. $\endgroup$– StephenG - Help UkraineAug 12, 2018 at 10:07
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1$\begingroup$ It also makes a difference whether they're brought up by normal people or not. If their developmental period is spent only with other clones, they may have trouble dealing with people who don't look the same. $\endgroup$– CadenceAug 12, 2018 at 23:19
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2 Answers
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How do you interact with other members of H. sapiens?
What you describe is a clone that is mostly alike. They get to have different memories from the moment they are born.
From a genetic perspective, something like 99.4% of our genome is cloned. How do you treat your almost-clones?
Really, the more important psychological question is whether you treat them as an individual or not. If you call them all by numbers and give them bar codes, psychoses should form. However, if you recognize them as unique human beings, despite having the same appearances, they should treat themselves as unique individuals as well.
Instinctively, I think tattooing would be popular. You should decide whether that is acceptable for your army or not. Tattooing would be a very powerful way to create uniqueness in a sea of identicalness. I think that it would be very popular, should you choose to admit it in your army.
answered Aug 12, 2018 at 23:01
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When identical twins interact with each other, they're effectively dealing with clones -- they have the same genetics and even the same birthdate. Of course these twins also interact with others, but the same principles would apply:
- Individuals who know each other would notice small differences, not large similarities.
- To a lesser degree, that would also apply to individuals who don't know each other, but I expect that they have more trouble telling each other apart.
- When one of them gets an illness that may have a genetic component, the other will be quite worried. Not just for a fellow human but also for himself.
There are twins in my family. I haven't mixed them up in person since I was three years old. It is more difficult on pictures, especially old ones. As a kid, I couldn't understand how strangers could mistake the two ...
