“Life begins at forty” is a well known saying that slips easily off the tongue. More profoundly Macbeth says “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more“. Yet life must have begun somewhere, though its origin and essence remain elusive. Early in the King James version of the Bible, in Genesis, there is a description of how all the plants and animals were created and following that is written “the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life“. Soon after that one reads “so God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them“. It is wonderful imagery and it involves something I want to investigate more, viz; replication. Crucially, I also want to consider the importance of the accuracy of that replication.