The Revolutionary Birth Control Method for Men • Hacker News Board

Re: The Revolutionary Birth Control Method for Men

#91

Post by netcan » Tue, May 31, 2011, 6:25 PM UTC

sudont wrote: post #62

jcromartie wrote: post #27

I have nothing to add except that reading the description of the process made me feel physically uncomfortable.

That's because you've got a physical identifier of this concept in your mind. Does the idea of a pacemaker feel bad? Probably not, because your "heart" is an abstract idea--you'll probably never see it with your own eyes. A lot of professors teaching dissection have noted your feelings, girls in general don't have a squeamishness to overcome in testicular dissection since they don't have that externality of organs.

Just reading your comment made me squeamish. Very squeamish.

Re: The Revolutionary Birth Control Method for Men

#92

Post by jonprins » Tue, May 31, 2011, 6:25 PM UTC

bmohlenhoff wrote: post #68

ghshephard wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hold on - Chiropractors are in the same class as homeopathy? I thought Chiropractors (which, admittedly, I've never been to, but have heard many good things about - particularly when people need to get their back "adjusted") were in the same class as Acupuncturists - kind of easternish philosophy, but effective within their domain. Not so much focussed on increasing health, as enhancing comfort (or reducing pain) wit…

I've been to a chiropractor before and it really does work, at least for the problem I was experiencing (which was some sort of simple alignment problem.) The guy basically just pushed on my spinal column in different directions and I could clearly feel things moving back into place. I definitely would not lump them in with the quackery that is homeopathy, as long as you stay within the bounds of "pushing bones into…

Until you realize that your bones were 'out of alignment' because you have weak core muscles that you should build up instead. In fact, 'pushing spinal column bones into alignment' without any x-rays or further inspection sounds pretty dangerous to me. What if the chiropractor pushes it too far and strains something, causing me to return for another adjustment? Everyone I know who has tried a chiropractor ends up going back over and over again, like an addiction.

Meanwhile, I had some back pain and started doing pilates and it evaporated, because now my core can actually hold my backbone up.

/plural of anecdote is not data

Re: The Revolutionary Birth Control Method for Men

#93

Post by yason » Tue, May 31, 2011, 6:27 PM UTC

mattdeboard wrote: post #49

Sukotto wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sign me up! I have 3 kids and the existing methods available for ensuring we don't have a 4th are, at best, inconvenient. (Condoms are annoying; the pill messes with my wife's emotions; and either of us getting snipped seems scarily irreversible.) I'll be keeping an eye open for trials here in the US and on any more news about this procedure trickling out from India. hooray for science!

Plus vasectomy sounds scary painful and potentially dangerous. I'm done having kids but I don't wanna get snipped. Granulomas? In MY testicles? It's more likely than I think.

I had a vasectomy done in my early thirties. Can't complain, really.

It was a short operation and I'd much rather re-do that than go to the dentist and have my cavities drilled. The side-effects mentioned in the article aren't really a problem, at least in my part of the world. Hadn't even heard of them myself, actually.

After the operation, my balls were a bit swollen for a few days but it didn't hurt and I was back in bed on maybe 3rd of 4th day. Everything has been like before except that I score an exact 0% in the fertility test. And have lots of fun with my wife without anybody having to remember to take pills or enjoy some extra hormones (which I wouldn't like).

I probably would have traded messing with condoms or my wife's contraceptives to this new solution. But now that a vasectomy became an option anyway, I wouldn't have had much incentive to even try it out.

Re: The Revolutionary Birth Control Method for Men

#94

Post by jgervin » Tue, May 31, 2011, 6:34 PM UTC

noonespecial wrote: post #40

Looks like the future of space, medicine, and technology belongs to the countries that have not yet hobbled themselves with lawyers and bureaucrats to the point that something must be perfect if it is to exist at all.

Totally agree. If they continue without all the lawyers they will be far more advanced in 20 years.

If this or some offshoot ever makes it to the US, we should see a dramatic decrease in family law, Federal subsides for child support, and could lead to dramatic decrease in crime. That is, if it becomes as available as womens birth control.

Re: The Revolutionary Birth Control Method for Men

#95

Post by hippich » Tue, May 31, 2011, 6:35 PM UTC

r00fus wrote: post #73

hippich wrote: post #17

Now if only they could invent something revolutionary for treating infertility...

It's always easier to destroy/disable than it is to create/enable. Infertility is a complex problem with multiple possible causes.

Totally agree. Just wish there was same "easy" way to do opposite.

Re: The Revolutionary Birth Control Method for Men

#96

Post by JoachimSchipper » Tue, May 31, 2011, 6:38 PM UTC

delinka wrote: post #13

thasmin wrote: post #9

A 100% effective, low maintenance, reversible birth control method could have an incredible effect on the future of the species. I'm guessing the benefits of fewer unwanted children will be incredible. The possible downsides include a dangerously low birth rate and forced temporary sterilization, but I think the long term effects will be very positive.

You are correct. Except for that part of the population that believes contraception is immoral. Or that rather large part of the population that can't afford the procedure or choose to remain ignorant of even basic contraception. Something like this is certainly more convenient, but ultimately the best method is education.

Education-only programs have abysmal success rates. I agree that condoms+ignorance isn't a winning plan either, but don't knock cheap, effective and hard-to-misuse contraceptives.

Re: The Revolutionary Birth Control Method for Men

#97

Post by SwellJoe » Tue, May 31, 2011, 6:50 PM UTC

yahelc wrote: post #50

Sukotto wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sign me up! I have 3 kids and the existing methods available for ensuring we don't have a 4th are, at best, inconvenient. (Condoms are annoying; the pill messes with my wife's emotions; and either of us getting snipped seems scarily irreversible.) I'll be keeping an eye open for trials here in the US and on any more news about this procedure trickling out from India. hooray for science!

Bizarre to be giving contraceptive advice on HN, but you should really look into IUDs. They're far less hormonal than the pill, and only require maintenance every 5 years.

Some types of IUD do not use hormones, at all. Copper IUDs actually operate on the sperm, similarly to the procedure we're discussing.

IUDs, unfortunately, got a bad rap in the 70s, because of a dangerous design flaw, but they're quite safe now, and in use all over the world because of their low cost and ease of use (nothing to remember, no pills to take, nothing to put on).

Re: The Revolutionary Birth Control Method for Men

#98

Post by camiller » Tue, May 31, 2011, 6:59 PM UTC

jgervin wrote: post #94

noonespecial wrote: post #40

Looks like the future of space, medicine, and technology belongs to the countries that have not yet hobbled themselves with lawyers and bureaucrats to the point that something must be perfect if it is to exist at all.

Totally agree. If they continue without all the lawyers they will be far more advanced in 20 years. If this or some offshoot ever makes it to the US, we should see a dramatic decrease in family law, Federal subsides for child support, and could lead to dramatic decrease in crime. That is, if it becomes as available as womens birth control.

You are making a huge leap from "this is an effective method of birth control" to "people will use this". See the movie Idiocracy. (actually just see the opening bit.)

Re: The Revolutionary Birth Control Method for Men

#99

Post by eugenejen » Tue, May 31, 2011, 7:04 PM UTC

randallsquared wrote: post #81

hugh3 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a physicist, I have been, on odd occasions of boredom and quarter-life-crisis, tempted to go into medicine. But the only type of medicine I'd be interested in is radiology. Walk in, cure a patient with physics, walk out, earn $600K a year. Sounds pretty sweet! What's that? You have cancer? No worries, I have radioactive beams ! Zap! You're cured! Unfortunately you gotta go through many years of the more usual, squ…

I knew a radiation oncologist in the late 90s, and his reason for becoming a webapp startup founder instead was that radiology was destroying him: in that field, most of your patients die , rather than being cured. You're mostly just prolonging things.

I see. And this is really frustrating unless you change the mindset to take everyday that is gained as a little victory for patients to enjoy life. But for patients of terminal cancers, the quality of life only deteriorates.

Having seen both my parents suffered terminal cancers and passed away, I think any economical way that can make people living to the end without losing quality of life is more important than prolonging life. And IMHO that is a very tough problem to work on.

Re: The Revolutionary Birth Control Method for Men

#100

Post by thaumaturgy » Tue, May 31, 2011, 7:09 PM UTC

camiller wrote: post #98

jgervin wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree. If they continue without all the lawyers they will be far more advanced in 20 years. If this or some offshoot ever makes it to the US, we should see a dramatic decrease in family law, Federal subsides for child support, and could lead to dramatic decrease in crime. That is, if it becomes as available as womens birth control.

You are making a huge leap from "this is an effective method of birth control" to "people will use this". See the movie Idiocracy. (actually just see the opening bit.)

Idiocracy isn't exactly based on fact. (It's an OK movie though.) For one thing, there's no evidence, that I know of, that supports the claim that only "smart" parents have smart children, or that smart parents don't have dumb children, or that dumb parents don't have smart children, and so on.

Although genetics likely plays some role in "natural" intelligence, it's far from a simple hereditary relationship, and there's increasing evidence that the bulk of natural intelligence is actually the result of environmental factors during early child development.