Well, it looks as though some Japanese have really started what could be the end of us males http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/cloning/cloning.jsp?id=ns99994909 It was fun while it lasted, eh? No more whistling, and chasing skirts. I for one do not welcome these female-only reproductive methods.
Posted by Traveler (Member # 3615) on :
I don't think you have anything to really be concerned about in your lifetime. Besides....I think most people will think the old-fashioned way is more fun.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
quote:While he agrees the creation of the mouse is a major achievement, imprinting expert Azim Surani, at the University of Cambridge, UK, hopes the work will not be misinterpreted to imply that males are somehow redundant.
"It shows the opposite - clearly IGF-2 is the key gene," he says. "They managed to get around it but to really get to a situation where the procedure would work as well as [fertilisation with] sperm, you would need to mutate a lot more genes."
Well, what do I care? My genes will continue to plague humanity even in the worst case scenario presented here-- I have two daughters.
You'll never be rid of me.
Posted by Xaposert (Member # 1612) on :
This might mean we are not needed anymore for reproduction, but who's going to do all that other cool stuff in the world? The world would collapse if we left it all to females. Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
We'd never get rid of you. Y'all're so strong and useful and pretty.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Not to mention cute and cuddly!
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
quote: We'd never get rid of you. Y'all're so strong and useful and pretty.
quote: Not to mention cute and cuddly!
Whereas we, apparently, are just deluded.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Good heavens, ElJay, how do you think men have succeeded for so long?
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
Point, Scott. Very good point.
Posted by Intelligence3 (Member # 6944) on :
Atwood-esque dystopian novel to follow.
Posted by Traveler (Member # 3615) on :
I vaguely remember an episode of "Sliders" (I know...bad show. I'm somewhat embarrassed that I remember this) that dealt with this issue. In the society that they arrived in women had full control of their reproduction. Men not required. So...men were relegated to a sub-class and were completely subserviant.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Who here has read The Female Man?
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
If men are no longer needed for reproduction, they will still be needed to open pickle jars and carve the meat. (women are genetically unable to carve meat, even when they cooked it)
So, have no fear.
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
quote: I vaguely remember an episode of "Sliders" (I know...bad show. I'm somewhat embarrassed that I remember this)
[tangent] I thought sliders was cool. [/tangent]
Posted by MEC (Member # 2968) on :
It was until they started killing off everyone but the crying man.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
Does that mean I'm not really a man if I'm no good at carving up meat? I can open jars...
So maybe I'm bi, or better yet, a meterosexual.
Fasciniating.
Hobbes Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
Nah, as soon as it's possible for women to be the sole genetic parent of a baby they carry, science will come up with a way for men to carry babies of their own, that they too are the sole genetic parent. And what a wonderful world of true equality that will be! Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I carved the TurkeyMeantForLeftovers at Thanksgiving because my aunt was busy with the pies.
Maybe you were being ironic.
Posted by Marek (Member # 5404) on :
I just keep thinking, if women only wanted men for reproduction, why are there birth cotrol pills?
Posted by MaydayDesiax (Member # 5012) on :
You know what they say... Practice makes perfect.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
No, no, no. It's been clearly stated that we need them to open jars.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Also, we need them to give us backrubs and carry the babies on their shoulders and throw them in the air so we can yell at them for endangering the life of our child and get our excess agression out. Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Like so many male functions in a woman's life, we can be replaced by the proper battery-driven gadget.
-Trevor
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Okay, but what about the baby-tossing?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Hasn't anybody seen that Arnold movie? It's the women who are obsolete!
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
That depends - does the gadget have to try and catch them on the way down?
-Trevor
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Um...sorry Mr. Head, I have no idea what you're talking about.
Unless you mean that short-lived sci-fi flick, "6th Day."
-Trevor
Posted by babager (Member # 6700) on :
So would this change the definition of marriage? Posted by MaydayDesiax (Member # 5012) on :
quote:Like so many male functions in a woman's life, we can be replaced by the proper battery-driven gadget.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I mean this one where Arnold gives birth himself.
Posted by Allegra (Member # 6773) on :
quote: Like so many male functions in a woman's life, we can be replaced by the proper battery-driven gadget
I would agree with you to a point, but "you look great tonight" wouldn't sound the same coming froma robot.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Truthfully Alle - after the three month mark of dating, it does sound like it's coming from a robot.
Or so I've been told.
Not that I've ever been guilty of that...ahem...
-Trevor
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
Don't forget lawn care and vehicle maintenance. edit:I forgot about the new robot lawn mowers! And I have no idea how to fix cars. I'm obsolete
ketchup, I've had The Female Man for years but have never gotten around to reading it, though I've read other stuff by Russ and liked it.
[ December 04, 2004, 01:49 PM: Message edited by: Morbo ]
Posted by Allegra (Member # 6773) on :
Don't ruin the false romantic ideas I have in my head.
I know it probably sounds less genuine after a while, but I would rather hear it coming from a guy staring at the TV then a robot. There are also other things like kissing. I do not think robots would have very nice lips.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
You obviously don't know the right robots.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
*giggles*
Posted by Allegra (Member # 6773) on :
Do you? If you know a robot that can kiss and convincingly comment on my appearance then I will buy him off you.
Posted by Marek (Member # 5404) on :
Allegra, have you ever heard the song "Coin Operated Boy" by The Dresden Dolls?
Posted by Fyfe (Member # 937) on :
Oo, this puts me so in mind of the first sentence of Steel Beach.
Jen
Posted by sarahdipity (Member # 3254) on :
So I think this was the basic premise of David Brin's book Glory Season. I read the book a really long time ago so I'm not recalling how good it was but the idea was just really interesting.
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
Haha, you're right, Jen, me too, now that you mention it. At least in Varley's future universe men can become women and vice-versa, and male-female sex continues. A little more user-friendly than those fictons where men just shrivel up and die.
[ December 04, 2004, 01:55 PM: Message edited by: Morbo ]
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
According to this USAToday Op/Ed piece, men in America and throughout the industrialized world are well on our way to becoming 2nd class citizens:
quote: the real news is tucked into the deeper, darker corners of the report [a Dept. of Ed. report]. Boys are doing miserably, and nobody knows quite why. On measures ranging from writing ability to the likelihood of needing special education, boys are flat-lining - or worse. [skipped section]The problem has already grown so severe that three out of every four private colleges (an informal estimate from admissions directors) quietly practice affirmative action for boys, favoring them over girls in admissions to get near balance
article Bummer. *starts writing obituary for males* Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
In Glory Season female children were cloned. Every fall or winter the cloned women would have sex with the men for some reason, I forget why exactly, which was what produced the protagonists of the novel.
This reminds me much more ofEthan of Athos, except in that case it was a planet of only men.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
The reasons vary - I was refraining from posting my commentary in a relatively light-hearted thread, but:
The skills that made men dominate in a primtive, hunter-gatherer system do not function as well in a modern, industrial setting.
Women, however, whether through biology or social conditioning, do have the communication and interpersonal skills that take precedence over strength and brute force.
The only reason why women have been kept out of the loop for as long as they have, in my opinion, is a male self-preservation instinct and a subconscious need to justify themselves in light of a superior entity. We justify to ourselves, "what does a woman know" or "she doesn't have a head for business since her reproductive organs are on the inside" and so on.
The fact of the matter is those arguments don't withstand any reasonable test for validity.
-Trevor
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So you mean that this thread is going to be history?! Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :
Well, I probably wasn't going to make it into the gene pool anyway.
Posted by raventh1 (Member # 3750) on :
Hey if any women want to get some real male lips I'm here in UT. Mind you they will stay attached to me.
I hear I'm a dying breed! Ooh and I play trumpet too!
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You know what they say... Practice makes perfect.
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