Is viable without cloning by using holograms. Minute differences make the "clone" not a clone, just as using the actual cell genetic material would make a "clone" not a clone, but the farther away you can get, the better.
Gene splicing is possible, but your end product would be nowhere near the original, most likely a blob of goo that might or might not feel pain. Example, take any piece of script from one program and splice it into another, then compile or run it and see what happens. The very best you can get is a painful reproduction, the rest of the time it simply will not work [survive]. I can get away with transplanting whole sections of cells as replacements for cells because they are complete modules unto themselves. I suppose if you could identify a "function" in a genome you could splice it in, but DNA and RNA and all the proteins and acids put together are way complicated, and not written by someone who likes to do documentation, so even more horrid and more painful products may result. I remarked that autism is likely due to selective breeding by the .260 batters of humanity. My proof is lawyers -- fully as intelligent and logic minded, science minded [though science bores them], and yet very liquid in the way they deal with other people. I guess in that way, if I can fake being a lawyer, then I'm not too far from being well adjusted myself.
