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Something I've been pondering- in a future where it's possible to create a clone of a specific person at the age that person is now (instead of as a baby) and, for various reasons government and law enforcement need a way to distinguish a clone from the person they were cloned from- how would they go about doing it?

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    $\begingroup$ Does the clone know that it is a clone? $\endgroup$ Sep 22 at 20:19
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    $\begingroup$ Do the clones have the same memories as the original copy? $\endgroup$ Sep 22 at 20:36
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    $\begingroup$ Identical twins exist, and they are clones. Somehow, law enforcement has never found this to be an insurmountable problem. They still have different fingerprints, for example. There are many traits which are developmental, and not determined by the genetic code. $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Sep 22 at 20:47
  • $\begingroup$ The word clone has a well-established biological meaning and does not mean copy, except when speaking informally of close imitations of commercial products. (And even in that sense, it does not mean identical copy.) $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Sep 22 at 20:52
  • $\begingroup$ Not enough for an actual answer - but: "The same way that they tell Identical Twins apart". $\endgroup$ Sep 22 at 20:56

2 Answers 2

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  1. Fingerprints or retinal scan : These are grown, not pre-determined by DNA
  2. Tattoos or scars: In a future world where cloning is a problem, maybe everyone gets a barcode at birth
  3. Mind scanner or lie detector (this relies on future tech of a lie detector machine that isn't actually a farce, unlike modern polygraphs)
  4. Maybe there are signature copying errors to look for, similar to how forensic scientists can examine photos for clues of tampering
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It depends on cloning technology, do they have the memories of the original? Is the clone, cloned from DNA and grown in lab or is it a model of the original's current form. If it is the former then the police could tell from any injures the original may have as the og would have gotten it from a situation they have lived through rather than from birth. If it is the latter then the police could possibly gleen the info from any habits the original may have. Habit are developed over time and no matter how good the clone they simply wouldn't have the muscle memory like the original.

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