I was waiting for this one, just as soon as I heard about the cloning experiments a few years back. Parthogenesis puts us in true science-fiction territory. I don't believe the protests of, "of course we'd never use this on humans, oh, no!" for one minute. Give it ten years for the techniques to be refined, and then we'll watch the excitement unfold.

Actually, I should clarify what I just said. (Sorry, early morning.) What I mean is that we're not going to avoid ethical dilemmas because the procedure "couldn't possibly work" on humans. It'll be called impossible for about a year, then someone will make it work on a large mammal, and then in a few years it'll come out that some groups have actually been doing it the whole time. Then it'll take a few more years to get to the point where there are no technical problems left, just ethical problems.

Then we get to watch people flounder, because ethical problems aren't our strong suit.

At that point, President Jenna Bush will outlaw all science, institute martial law, and put us all under church arrest (like house arrest, but with more praying).