Thieving Thursday: Endangered Man

OK, I was totally going to do something on the economics writer who indulged in the real estate and toxic mortgage nonsense so that now he's in a credit nightmare (of his own doing) and mention my own loan officer, Tim Brooks, who was instrumental in steering me from same (and made sure I got a good bargain real estate-wise - really, if you're in Texas and looking for a mortgage, I couldn't recommend anyone better). But, with a bankruptcy in my past, I'm in no position to lecture anyone on finances.

Still, I was going to talk it anyway because, hey, that was my best comment and then Observations of Nerd came through with the awesomely cool uber-geeky post. Oh, this is prime stealing material.

What made it so cool? Well, first you should read it. The author over there, Christie Lynn, writes damn well and has some of the most interesting topics anywhere. Did you read it? I'll wait.

For those of you who didn't bother (shame on you), it's all about how the Y chromosome is losing genetic materials over generations, how it used to be a full up and upstanding chromosome like the rest of them, but it's lost genetic material and, since it's never matched up, it has no mechanism for recovering the lost material like the rest of our chromosomes have. There's other stuff on how long that's taken and how long we have, on why that's so and the advantages to sexual reproduction. Science stuff, deeply geeky.

But think of the science fiction possibilities here. It's a gold mine, just off this one premise. I mentioned some in the comment and I'll expand on them here.

For instance, you could explore the implications of scientists genetically recreating a rebuilt Y chromosome, a "supermale," to try to turn back the clock. Where would they get the genes, what would be the implications? You could stumble on an X-men (Y-men) opportunity limited to males with the extra genes that no one saw coming; they might combine with X genes in ways we never envisioned. Hell, I could get a dozen different stories/novels/series from that premise alone.

But wait, there's more. We could have a society that takes particular care to preserve fertile males (those with the most complete genetic material) who become rarities, with most males born incapable or with so little Y chromosome material that male children with them are unlikely to be fertile, but girls are fine. Again, fertile fertile ground from someone with my type of imagination. You can go clinical where no one trust nature to do the deed. You can go down the path where such men are treated like demigods and wooed by thousands. You can go down the path where they are passed around as studs, with no rights or consideration (which, given the far past and some of the sexual crimes going on in Africa, has a certain twisted justice). So many possibilities.

And, then, of course, we have all the female only possibilities. Genetic diversity via gene manipulation, via replicated chromosomes, via Y-chromosomes coupled with another chromosome where the result isn't true male, but not female either. There's your cloning, your using frozen sperm, you combination of female ova. Again, the opportunities are almost endless.

For a geeky writer like myself, it's almost disheartening to see how many useful and thought-provoking directions one can go with this one little biological conundrum vs. all the rocketry, orbital mechanics, and life support stuff I already know.

Damn it, should have been a biologist.