asexual reproduction
"Ban the clones ? Does all this mean that the possibility of human cloning should be joyously embraced ? Far from it . It would be suicidal , not just dispiriting , for the species to give up sexual reproduction in favour of cloning . Sex creates new gene combinations that confer new strengths , especially resistance to disease . As a distinguished biologist , George C. Williams , put it many years ago , asexual reproduction is like xeroxing your lottery ticket ; even if you have the winning number , making many copies wo not help unless the winning number is the same every time . In the history of evolution asexual lineages of species have often appeared but few have lasted long."
METAMIA is a free database of analogy and metaphor. Anyone can contribute or search. The subject matter can be anything. Science is popular, but poetry is encouraged. The goal is to integrate our fluid muses with the stark literalism of a relational database. Metamia is like a girdle for your muses, a cognitive girdle.