"Edward L. Ferman - Best From F&SF, 23rd Edition" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ferman Edward L)

podium as I talked about cloning. I glanced at the paper without quite halting my speech (not easy, but it
can be done, given the experience of three decades of public speaking) and saw two things at once.
First, it was one of Randall's superlative pieces of satiric verse, and second, it was clearly intended to be
sung to the tune of "Home on the Range."
Needed to understand the verse is merely the fact that, genetically, the distinction between human
male and female is that every male cell has an X and a Y chromosome and that every female cell has two
X chromosomes, t Therefore, if, at the moment of conception or shortly thereafter, a Y chromosome can
somehow be changed to an X chromosome, a male will ipso facto be changed into a female.
Here, then, is "Randall's Song," to which I took the liberty of adding a verse myself:

(1st verse)
O, give me a clone
Of my own flesh and bone
With its Y chromosome changed to X;
And when it is grown
Then my own little clone
Will be of the opposite sex.
(chorus)
Clone, clone of my own,
With its Y chromosome changed to X;
And when I'm alone
With my own little clone
We will both think of nothing but sex.
(2nd verse)
O, give me a clone,
Hear my sorrowful moan,
Just a clone that is wholly my own;
And if it's an X
Of the feminine sex
O, what fun we will have when we're prone.

When I was through with my talk and with the question-and-answer session, I sang "Randall's Song"
in my most resonant baritone and absolutely brought the house down.
Three and a half weeks later I sang it again at the annual banquet of the Baker Street Irregulars, that
fine group of Sherlock Holmes fanciers, adjusting it slightly to its new task (O, give me some clones / Of
the great Sherlock Holmes / With their Y chromosome) and brought the house down again. But you may,
by now, be asking yourself, "What's a clone?" It's been in the news a great deal lately, but recognizing a
word and knowing what it represents can be two different things. So let's go into the matter-The word
"clone" is Greek, exactly as it stands, provided you spell it in Greek letters, and it means "twig." [See
"Counting Chromosomes," F&SF, June 1968.]
A clone is any organism (or group of organisms) that arises out of a cell (or group of cells) by means
other than sexual reproduction. Put it another way: It is an organism that is the product of asexual
reproduction. Put it still another way: It is an organism with a single parent, whereas an organism that
arises from sexual reproduction (except where self-fertilization is possible) has two parents.
Asexual reproduction is a matter of course among one-celled organisms (though sexual reproduction
can also take place), and it is also very common in the plant world.
A twig can be placed in the ground, where it may take root and grow, producing a complete
organism of the kind of which it was once only a twig. Or the twig can be grafted to the branch of
another tree (of a different variety even), where it can grow and flourish. In either case, it is an organism
with a single parent, and sex has had nothing to do with its making. It is because human beings first