The Bad Batch | Is Cloning Harder Than Faster-Than-Light Propulsion?

Max looks into the technology of the galaxy far, far away. Is Cloning more difficult than faster-the-light propulsion?

Faster-than-light propulsion is ubiquitous in the Star Wars galaxy. And the hyperdrive has been a mature technology for close to a thousand years. Every major government utilizes it. Yet in the latest episode of The Bad Batch, Tarkin mentions the Empire securing cloning technology from the Kaminoans. Before destroying them of course.

That’s odd that the Empire knows how to break the very laws of physics but cannot clone sentient beings. Cloning is something we have done here on Earth, and in 1997, we cloned a sheep known famously as Dolly. Dolly, unfortunately, died shortly after being born. But it’s still something even we could achieve, whilst FTL will probably not come in this century if ever.

KAMINO

So why is the Empire so advanced in one area, and not in another? Perhaps, cloning, due to the ethical concerns it raises, was banned by the Republic. And the Kaminoans only specialized in it because they are atheists and not part of the main galaxy proper. Is a cloned person still a person? Do they have rights? Do they have a soul? These are questions that vex many philosophical futurists. And cloning a sentient being was likely illegal under the Galactic Republic. It is illegal in the real world as well. Yet, perhaps it was not cracked by the Republic and that’s why the Empire took the knowledge.

CLONING

The Lando comic which is set after The Bad Batch has two cat-alien lovers who express a desire to make a clone as their offspring. By that time, maybe the Empire introduced cloning to the wider galaxy, and the ability to do so stemmed from the Kaminoans. This leaves the mudhorn in the room. FTL. How is it developed before cloning?

The Tarkin book basically explains that it was discovered by a long-dead alien race and the modern galaxy just inherited the technology. Alphabet Squadron established that many ancient races had access to tech that was incomprehensible to the modern GFFA. And it highlights an even bigger notion, that the Galactic Republic may have restricted science because of the influence of the Jedi.

So, FTL is an inheritance, and stuff like cloning is still “high-tech” to the backward, impoverished galaxy far, far away?

What are your thoughts on cloning in the galaxy far, far away? Leave a comment in the section below. We’d love to hear your theories.

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Max Nocerino

Max Nocerino is a regular Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. He is a passionate Star Wars fan and loves the literature of the galaxy far, far away. Follow him on Twitter where he shares his love of the Force frequently!