Slashdot Mirror


Sperm Made From Female Bone Marrow, Men Obsolete?

Shaitan Apistos writes "British scientists have discovered a way to turn female bone marrow into sperm, allowing women to reproduce without the need of male companionship. All children born of this method would be female, due the lack Y chromosomes, and there is high chance of birth defects. Eggs also can be created from male bone marrow, but men looking to reproduce would still need to find a surrogate mother to handle the gestation period. I'd like to take a moment to welcome our new amazonian overlords and remind them that men are still very good at mowing lawns and fixing cars."

6 of 459 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Of course men not obsolete just yet by damburger · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But many women like the, ahem, companionship of other women. If this has a genetic basis (almost certain) then the genetic offspring of two such women is very likely to feel the same way. A female-only subculture is almost certainly on the way.

    The depressing thing is, as a man I can't really think of why we should be allowed to stick around.

    --
    If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
  2. Re:Of course men not obsolete just yet by Haeleth · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The depressing thing is, as a man I can't really think of why we should be allowed to stick around.
    Come to that, why should people with disabilities be allowed to stick around, when a fully able-bodied society would be perfectly viable? Why should people with dark skin be allowed to stick around, when a fully-white society would be perfectly viable? Why should Jews be allowed to stick around, when a fully Jew-free society would be perfectly viable?

    Most people view such questions as shocking, revolting, taboo. We have collectively decided that such questions simply have no place in our lives. We do not need any explanations or justifications: the idea that all these groups have a fundamental and irrevocable right to exist is taken as axiomatic. It's one of the foundations of our modern western civilisation, period, and there is simply no further room for debate.

    The question of whether men should be "allowed" to exist is the same question, asked in a different way. Therefore the answer, to people in our society, will be the same: of course men must be allowed to exist. No justification will be required.

    (Not to invoke Godwin or anything, but there's a reason some people refer to extremist feminists as "feminazis". Their views are unlikely to become mainstream any time soon.)
  3. Re:Of course men not obsolete just yet by thesandtiger · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Don't fall into the trap that "biological" means "genetic." There is almost certainly a biological basis to homosexuality, but it may be epigenetic rather than "genetic" as most people mean the term. It seems to be more complicated than most - including myself - think.

    --
    Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
  4. Re:Too bad.... by kestasjk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Surprise surprise, a male (Karim Nayernia) invented the technique. I guess that's how superfluous we are?

    But hey it's alright to be sexist; you're female.

    --
    // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
  5. Men will win in the end (sort of) by mithras+invictus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While feminists like to exaggerate the bad properties and general uselessness of men and the superior characteristics of women, they fail to realize that those properties have been genetically selected by their sexual counterpart. If men are really that useless, this must mean that women really suck at selecting a sexual partner.
    If womens "stupid useless macho" partner preference is left unchecked by a mitigating male preference, everybody in the future will pretty much be a man with different sexual organs.

  6. Re:Of course men not obsolete just yet by value_added · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From a sexual point of view, most women are still part conditioned and part pre-programmed to want male ahem companionship.

    I take it you haven't fathered any offspring. That "want" you're referring to is at its height during the brief courtship phase. Past that, it's replaced with something very different.

    Here's how it works. The girl gets pregnant and your "companionship" privileges are revoked with occasional but increasingly rare exceptions using rules that only a woman could understand.

    The child is born. Companionship has been replaced by sharing of duties. A year or two passes, and the privileges return occasionally, but only if you've met your workload. That continues for several years (in an ideal environment) until lust and love are relegated to "remember when?" memories. The bond between the mother and child is strong and unbreakable. The bond between the two of you is weak. You're now living the life of someone who's entered into a series of complex, interwined legal and financial agreements. Satisfy all those agreements and you may reach the 6-7 year mark. Fail, or complain about the loss of companionship, you'll discover what misery really means.

    If you've come this far, and you're unhappy, then it's hookers and blackjack for you (she's busy and has "her" kids to think about). On the other hand, if she's unhappy, she will consider you as unimportant, and leave. The legal and financial agreements stay, so she gets the kids and house, and you get the bills. The world will be supportive of her decision, and you end up like a stray dog wandering the streets.

    Let's all be friends, instead.

    Only if you were friends to begins with. Good friends are sufficiently motivated to work things out. But then, ask yourself often people marry their friends?