One last "button" topic - hermaphromorph button!

[Molyneux]

All of the other hypothetical button threads seem, after a few minutes' examination, to be ethically indefensible. They all involve directly changing the brain chemistry of other people without their consent.

However, there was one offshoot topic that has been nagging at me since I read the first thread; if there were a button which, if pressed, would grant every human being on Earth (and every human being who will be born in future) the ability to change their physical sex at will...

1) Would it be unethical to press the button?
2) Would you press said button, if given the opportunity?

People won't be forced to ever switch; they can choose not to ever use the ability if they possess it.



My opinion on the matter is that it would not be an unethical action, since all it does is grant a new ability to humans which they could choose to leave unused; I would press the button in a moment if it existed.

[Xenophobe3691]

Yes.

Imagine what would happen to religious fundamentalists when they find that their whole population is now male, because they can't stand life as women.

[Rye]

However, there was one offshoot topic that has been nagging at me since I read the first thread; if there were a button which, if pressed, would grant every human being on Earth (and every human being who will be born in future) the ability to change their physical sex at will...

1) Would it be unethical to press the button?

No. It'd just be giving them extra freedom that shouldn't harm others. It'd be more ethical than a button to let people own firearms.

2) Would you press said button, if given the opportunity?

Yurp.

[K. A. Pital]

Um, I'd press, if only consequences could be known before I do it. Because if suddenly a huge disbalance between males and females should arise due to external factors (imagine some sort of "spark of fashion" for a single sex, or just natural favour of people that we might be unaware of because we're "locked" with our own sex), this could harm reproduction.

[Broomstick]

But all anyone who wanted to reproduce would have to do is to change sex as necessary to either impregnate or inseminate as needed. Parents are willing to sacrifice quite a bit for their children, nine months for gestation and a few months to a couple years for breastfeeding would probably be seen as a fair trade-off by many.

Also keep in mind that it would only grant the ability -- assuming nothing else changes the majority of people would prefer one gender over another, and that would probably be a fairly even distribution. Most people might never utilize this ability. Some cultures might forbid using it, as some forbid oral or anal or homosexual or extra-marital sex.

I'd press it, just because it's the sort of mischevious but largely harmless meddling I think very funny. And, if we were lucky, it might even result in greater tolerance and understanding.

[Keevan_Colton]

A Culture Genofix type button...alrighty then!

[Kojiro]

We already allow sex changes. Why prohibit and easier, easily reversable version of the same thing?

[Crossroads Inc.]

Interesting, so if I have this right, Hukmans don't actually become true "Hermaphradites" IE containing both sexes, but can gender shift ebtween Male and Female at will?

It would certainlly be an interesting experaince!

[General Zod]

There's only one thing I have to say that would likely get most men (at least) automatically interested. Massive lesbian orgies. W00t. So absolutely I'd push it. And push it frequently, as I don't see any ethical problems since nobody's getting harmed.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Imagine Men becoming Women... What would you have? Women with the Sex Drives of Men!

[RedImperator]

Imagine Men becoming Women... What would you have? Women with the Sex Drives of Men!

Assuming changing gender doesn't also change brain chemistry and sex drive. And sexual orientation--what if a heterosexual man becomes a heterosexual woman? So much for the lesbian orgies.

[Lord Woodlouse]

I don't think it's ethical or unethical to press the button. I'd press it simply because I'd have great fun excercising the ability at will, myself.

[General Zod]

Imagine Men becoming Women... What would you have? Women with the Sex Drives of Men!

Assuming changing gender doesn't also change brain chemistry and sex drive. And sexual orientation--what if a heterosexual man becomes a heterosexual woman? So much for the lesbian orgies.

The OP doesn't specify orientation though, just the gender itself. So it's probably safe to say the orientation doesn't come along with it. Unless Molyneux wants to specify one way or the other at least. . .

[Lord Zentei]

Trust an EGS fan to come up with an idea like this.

The difference here is that you are granting others the ability to change if they wish to in stark contrast to the other buttons which forces them to change, probably against their will.

If you modified the other buttons to be "grant power to change at will" too, they would not be unethical either.

[DPDarkPrimus]

A Culture Genofix type button...alrighty then!

Indeed!

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

I'd sit on it.

OT: Where's Areoborg? He'd love these topics!

[Molyneux]

Trust an EGS fan to come up with an idea like this.

The difference here is that you are granting others the ability to change if they wish to in stark contrast to the other buttons which forces them to change, probably against their will.

If you modified the other buttons to be "grant power to change at will" too, they would not be unethical either.

S'good to see that someone could tell where I drew the inspiration from

And Zod, when I wrote up this topic I was thinking specifically in terms of the GURPS advantage "Hermaphromorph" - it's a 5-point advantage that just grants the ability to shift physical sex at will, a process which generally takes about two to three minutes (if I remember correctly). It doesn't affect sexual orientation - if you like men as a woman, then you'll continue liking them as a female, and vice versa.

I was actually wondering for awhile if there was any possible way in which this could be implemented in the real world - aren't there certain vertebrate species which have the ability to change gender based on outside conditions (or the ratio of males to females in the area)?

[Sofia]

I don't know; it might cause a definite gender imbalance. Think about all the parts of the world where women are oppressed. There are a lot of women who would press that button without another thought.

Also, getting rid of the hassle of surgery doesn't erase the stigma. Your family, other people who knew you would know that you used to be the other gender.

[Lord Zentei]

I don't know; it might cause a definite gender imbalance. Think about all the parts of the world where women are oppressed. There are a lot of women who would press that button without another thought.

Then they would be forced to treat women better there.

Also, getting rid of the hassle of surgery doesn't erase the stigma. Your family, other people who knew you would know that you used to be the other gender.

Not really an issue as far as the ethics of giving them this power is concerned.

[Darth Raptor]

Not only would I grant this ability to humanity, I would utilize it regularly. Hell, my gender may just change from day to day under such circumstances. I'd probably never change permanently, though. I like being male, but I'm more than willing to take the other chassis for a spin. I might actually like it better. Who knows.

[Rye]

I was actually wondering for awhile if there was any possible way in which this could be implemented in the real world - aren't there certain vertebrate species which have the ability to change gender based on outside conditions (or the ratio of males to females in the area)?

Yeah, the ones that spring immediately are frogs, but as far as I know, they're born with both sets of organs and don't have a penis, they have a cloaca instead. I'm not familiar with it happening in mammals.

[Sofia]

Then they would be forced to treat women better there.

How so? The remaining fundamentalist men would not change their attitudes at all. It wouldn't be very hard to trace the women who had turned into men; the original men would turn against them. The remaining women who had chosen not to press the button would be more likely to be raped because of the gender imbalance.

In countries where gender selection is common (China and India) women have to be much more careful than they would be in countries with more equal ratios of men and women, because the desperation of men makes them incredibly vulnerable.

[Wyrm]

Then they would be forced to treat women better there.

How so? The remaining fundamentalist men would not change their attitudes at all. It wouldn't be very hard to trace the women who had turned into men; the original men would turn against them. The remaining women who had chosen not to press the button would be more likely to be raped because of the gender imbalance.

Um, the scenario is for a single button push to grant the ability to change to all people, everywhere. The actual change of gender is to be effected by will, and is reversible. There's no "tracing" of people who changed their gender, because the gender change can be effected at any time.

[Sofia]

Um, the scenario is for a single button push to grant the ability to change to all people, everywhere. The actual change of gender is to be effected by will, and is reversible. There's no "tracing" of people who changed their gender, because the gender change can be effected at any time.

Yes, I understand that the change would be effected by will and would be reversible, but, still, there would be tracing. Imagine your sister decided to change gender. She would now be a he, but you'd probably notice that your sister was gone, and note the strange new man living in her room. Even if she did change back, you would know that she once changed gender. In small communities it would be very easy to figure out who had changed their sex.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Yup, thats why htis one is so different and actually approchable then the others. With this one Everyone has their own 'button' and can change back and forth whenever they wish. People can choose to become Male or Female without it changing their original mental make up.

So men turning Female would become 'lesbian' and women turning male would become 'gay'