Nature Versus Nurture: 13 Clones

Ever see the Boys from Brazil? Somewhat of a similar concept.

Do you know anyone who's an identical twin or triplet? Human-created clones should work much the same way.

Which is to say, they would probably be fairly different. But they're unlikely to be "opposites" as popular fiction likes to do to twins sometimes.

Haphazard said:

I never thought much of the polar opposite stuff. And in this, if you have thirteen polar opposites... well, what does that mean?

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It means you have a Terry Pratchett story, I think.

Also, the polar opposite thing rarely happens in the same family. They may be different enough, but there's got to be some cohesiveness to hold them together.

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Yep. Which is why it's so annoying in fiction.

They have similar appearances, but will be different people entirely. I would say nurture is the most important element, therefore they will not be even close to the same in personality, values, or aesthetics.

Well if you have some twins as cousins i'd say that's all the comparison you need. Or maybe reasearch some more about twins, since identical twins are technically clones (of another, not the parents) there is no reason to think that artificial clones would act the least bit different.

As is the case with twins, a dynamic always forms between the two, with one becoming dominant but relying on the other to compliment weaknesses.

In the case of 13, the social structure could be highly elaborate. Take 3 and make them varying degrees of dominant or ambitious, make another pair clever and/or conniving, there has to be the "stupid one," and a wide array of inclinations or beliefs scattered.

Even if they are identical, there will not be perfect harmony, especially if there is competition for boys.

Ever heard of the podiobook "7th Son" by Jc Hutchins? Basically, there are seven men, who are all clones of one person. They all have the same exact memories through childhood, but after that have different memories. And they all become completely different people -one's a priest, another's a crazy computer hacker, another is an ambassador for the UN, etc. It's a really interesting book (actually, trilogy), and explores this concept a lot.

I read a book about personality differences between twins but can't recall the title just this second.

Basically the sum of the research on the topic--people with identical genomes but different personalities--is that personality is 50% genetic, 50% environmental.

You've got some leeway for individual identity there even if they are together for their formative years. They'd probably have all sorts of twin telepathy type stuff, but that doesn't prevent them from being their own people.

Also, don't quote me on this because I'm not a twin, but I think from the cases in the book--twins separated early then reunited in adulthood generally either were very close for a time then dropped off, or kept their distance but stayed in touch. Twins who had been raised together were more interested in staying close together.

I say twin here but I really mean clone, since I'm talking about identical twins.

Maybe you could get a book on psychology, and study all those little things that might seem small, but could really have a great effect on a person (like, maybe one was always the victim of the others, one was bitten by a spider, one of them fell into a creek, etc). Then introduce little differences into each girl's life. Each would have a slightly different story, which makes for a different adult character.

Ah crap. Damn you all to hell.

This thread gave me another story idea.

I hate you.

While I don't normally direct people to movies that make my bash my head against the wall, check out "Godsend." It has some interesting takes on cloning and which memories are inherited by the clone. The movie could have been better, but the underlying story is pretty cool.