I don't think cloning of animals is really successful yet. To me, the Cloning tech represents cloning on a wide-scale, commercially available basis, like the level that would support the RePet building. We're not there yet. I think what we're looking at now is the beakers are still being accumulated (despite the project).
We can cover the ethical issues of human cloning either with aspects of other technologies -- I think we have discussed Gene Jurisprudence before -- or we can have a separate Human Cloning technology. I don't have an issue with that. The problem I have is sticking unnecessary adjectives on technology names simply to cover every possible objection (I still cringe when I look at Commercial Whaling). I think Cloning works perfectly well for the baseline science, and then having Human Cloning be named differently. You don't need to add the word Animal on top of that. For example, we have Rocketry and Advanced Rocketry -- not Basic Rocketry and Advanced Rocketry.
I'm at the other end of the opinion scale there. I would prefer it if we had 'Early Rocketry' and then 'Advanced Rocketry' to represent the difference.
I believe that if you label something as simply 'Rocketry', you are inferring that that's it, you have it. There's nothing more you need, nothing more to develop about it. You know the whole scale now about the subject and can apply it in every way it applies.
Like Commercial Whaling. Its necessary to have 'Commercial' in there. If we put 'Whaling' we'd be misrepresenting. Because mankind has killed an eaten whales ever since they could build a canoe. But what we had not done yet was realize how many industrial applications could be made from their bodies, in particular the blubber and ambergris that fed lamps, made perfumes, and in general allowed us to start learning what to do with oil long before we realized we could replace the applications of whale blubber with petroleum. We also had not invented yet the weapons systems that would bring in the whales with such ease.
My point is, we didn't invent whaling... that was pretty much a natural foodsource and thus was no different than the invention of fishing (albeit big fish). We DID invent the need for harvesting whales on a mass level suddenly, and that invention was key to unlocking full use of petroleum down the road. So I much prefer it called Commercial Whaling because it defines the
difference and I'm quite happier with extra definition and a reduction of vague generalizations.
Cloning follows the same line. Ah, I see, now we know how to do that. So that means there's nothing more to be learned about it and we can apply all its applications now at this... wait... you mean I need another tech down the road to learn how to clone people? But I thought I knew how to clone? Irritating. But if we call it Animal cloning, we're clear with the player that, well, you've just earned a bit of knowledge about cloning and have made a breakthrough on cloning animals. (btw, agreed it needs to be much earlier...)
I like the idea about making Dolly a Team Project, and I'd like to add that the first cloned Human should also be a Team Project of a Pandora's Box type nature like the Manhattan Project. (Perhaps our current world's governmental policies are dictated on knowledge of the future shared by those who can travel time already... ever considered THAT?) Cloning as a Civic... hmm... that'd be a bit like slavery and perhaps should be along the same lineage (which has been demanding its own line for a while now).
As for the dream stuff (um... how could one not like Inception???) etc...
Emotional Transistors are chemicals that can be placed in the body through any number of innocent seeming means, such as in the food or water supply etc. These chemicals, usually metals, are pretty much innocent in and of themselves, but in sufficient volume allow for the reception of radio frequency transmissions for either weaponized purpose, medical purpose, or even, as some fringe conspiracy theorists suggest, mind control purposes. In other words, if these metals are inside the bodies of a populace of people, in enough volume, radio transmissions could be utilized to ignite these materials inside them (think of metal in a microwave oven) or possibly transmit thoughts that they would hear and believe to be their own. Medically, some interesting cures for many kinds of cancer are proven to work with this kind of method (using such transistor elements that are only attracted to stay inside cancer cells.)
The Binary Neurotransmitters would be like the holy grail of all development working towards Android technology. The brain and the neurological web throughout the body are little more than a complex, biochemical computer. At some point, our research should be able to decode the base process down to the level of binary transmission. This is theoretically possible going off the basis of logic that ALL reality can be boiled down to binary expressions. Once the connection between computer processing at its fundamental level, and biological processing is made, all hell breaks loose for an enormous amount of discoveries to come. Computers jacking directly into the brain, adding memory space, allowing true artificial reality experiences, and yes, connecting to the world of dreams, recording experiences, replaying them, implanting them. Dream Forensics would simply be the additional application of this core unlocking technology to research the reality of events by directly viewing them through the eyes of those who perceived them, or spying on someone's ongoing thought process by scanning their dreams (which could possibly be done by satellite without the observed even being aware of it.)
The more we talk about this stuff, the more I think we should really take a look at every tech in great detail, step by step... I loved what Civ Fuehrer brought up earlier... all those were awesome!