X-Message-Number: 7811
Date: Wed, 05 Mar 1997 11:08:08 +0100
From: John de Rivaz <>
Subject: Re: sex determination

In article: <> 
 writes:
> Although the US has been immune from this particular technical diddle, 
> right now in India and several other countries amniocentesis has been used
> to find out the sex of an embryo and abort it if it is not male. Yes, 
> the pollies have made this illegal, not that doing so did very much. I
> look forward with great interest to the long term effect of allowing more
> boys than girls to be born. It may be the best thing that ever happened
> for feminism in India, especially if women play the game right.

An article appeared in New Scientist in the later 1960s or possibly early 70s 
by (I think) someone called Postgate which suggested that sex determination 
may end humanity's population problem, although at a terrible cost. He 
suggested that the male proportion of the population in the subsequent 
generation in some countries may rise to of the order of 90%. The country or 
area would then revert to violent anarchy resulting in a fall in the human 
population by the same order of magnitude.

If this ever happens, it is an apallaing paranoid scenario for the cryonics 
organisations to get their patients through.

(Or maybe the unrequited males would simply live out their lives in a world 
of virtual reality - not thought of in the 60s)


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