On Mon, 23 Jul 2001 10:59:38 -0400 "Dana Shilling" dshilling@worldnet.att.net writes:

How does being cloned affect Cally (and other Auronar, of course)? In Harvest of Kairos Cally sees "her mother and father" in the Sopron, although presumably she wouldn't have one.

Actually, we don't _know_ that Cally didn't have biological parents who she grew up with. Let's look at what we do know about Auron cloning.

1. Cally's sister was about the same age as her. If not really the same age, then probably not a difference of more than a couple years either way if not (assuming human standards of aging).

2. It has to be stated to one of the Auron leaders that Cally's sister is genetically identical, so nonclone siblings are common enough cloning is not assumed but certainly not so uncommon that Cally and Zelda's relation creates surprises.

Right at this point, it seems more likely that Cally and Zelda were not necessarily clones in the sense of Dolly but that they were artificially created twins (compared to actual cloning, it's much simpler to do this with a fertilized egg cell) being raised by their biological parents. We can assume _biological_ parents because the image the stone threw at Cally was based not on her memories but on stone's image of her.

3. While Servalan expresses surprise that Frantor is the normal, biological child of her father, I think Servalan's idea of family values is distorted enough that we could discount most of it in relation to her own culture (example: I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out Servalan had killed her own parents to get where she is - but I would be surprised if patricide was a narm within the Federation). In relation to a foreign, isolationist culture she's had no contact with except for one rebel, it can be dismissed without supporting evidence.

My guess would still be that cloning is pushed for two main reasons, that children raised with a cloned sibling have an easier time developing their telepathy (supporting evidence implied by what's said about Cally and Zelda) and that there may be times they want to create a younger twin of a person already living.

Are clones raised in

"cheaper by the dozen" nuclear families or in collective care centers?

First, let's look at Auron in general. It's an isolationist planet and apparently has no colony worlds. Its population is largely limited to one world even though they don't seem to be newcomers on the galactic field, so we can assume some population stability.

Cally and Zelda followed different career paths, so they don't seem to be those mass produced kind of clones who are all raised up for one job or type of job.

Then, let's look at what we know about people. Raising a child is a labor intensive job. There's a reason for the shift from orphanages to foster care tied to this fact. Collective care centers beat some of the options, but they shouldn't be a society's first choice on how to raise large numbers of its population given alternatives.

Also, sudden increases in population, historically, have usually put pressure on societies as they face the difficulty of acculturating the baby boom (a 19th century example was called "the bilateral invasion of the barbarians"). While the horrors may be overrated, it's a valid issue and doesn't fit what little we know of Auron.

So, we have a planet with no pressing reason to mass produce large numbers of people and serious questions about how they would raise them if they did. For me, this seems to again imply children being raised by their own families. Not as exciting as mass produced clones, but there you go. It wouldn't surprise me designer genes weren't an issue on their planet or if parents didn't check over the DNA of any potential children, but I think the main selling point of artificial wombs would be clear to anyone familiar with the natural sort (see also: C-sections, feet first delivery, pregnancy - complications of, childbirth mortality).

And do Auronar

think of Terran h-saps as the same species, a related species, a different species?

Good question. There's evidence of genetic similarity, but how much anyone's willing to admit to it seems to vary from episode to episode. I'd guess it was a touchy issue. Terran humans seem to be xenophobic and not to understand a lot of basic biology. Aurons probably understand the biology but probably aren't willing to admit the relationship.

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