Women are great. I have no problem with women. But for goodness sake, I've had enough of this ridiculous female chauvinism that dominates our society today.

Men are awesome. Even in this world where all the rules have been skewed in favor of women (women get better grades and graduate high school, attend college, and get degrees at higher rates than men) men are still disproportionately represented at the highest levels in most challenging creative endeavors. Look around you. See all that stuff (electronics, furniture, buildings)? It was predominantly invented, designed, and produced by men. Go to any (co-ed) college and walk through their chemistry, physics, engineering, and CS departments. What will you see? Mostly men. Look at the top of best sellers lists and music charts: a lot of men still showing up there. Cutting edge graphic designers, architects, film producers, etc.? Men are still disproportionately represented here too.

Certainly women are capable of doing these things. The knack for these skills and the inclination to pursue them seem to be less common in women though. As much as the world has changed, as much as opportunities for women have expanded, men are still the providers. Sure women bring home income, but the people who invent, design, build, and run the machines that feed us, clothe us, shelter us, protect us, and even entertain us, are mostly still men.

I don't think this will ever change. Women tend to excel in interacting with the social environment and men tend to excel in interacting with the physical environment. As technology and science have allowed us to triumph over the physical forces that threaten us, the apparent importance of masculine skills has diminished. The physical environment and physical threats to our well being are held at bay and cordoned off so that we need hardly be aware of their existence. This leaves us in a primarily social world. Our homes, our schools, our workplaces are primarily social gatherings. In these spaces the tendency for women to excel socially makes them the dominant sex. The areas of male excellence are relegated to workshops, computer labs, offices, and obscure blackboards and conference rooms. Most people are largely oblivious to what happens in these places, while everyone shares our social venues.

I would wager that ninety years from now people will look back on the 21st century and find that men were, once again, primarily responsible for the expansion of human achievement vis-a-vis the physical world. They will have received of most of the Nobel prizes. They will have designed of most of the structures. They will have invented most of the innovations that improved our lives. They will have programmed most of the computers.

Are men obsolete? In so far as food, clothing, shelter, and protection are obsolete; in so far as invention and scientific and technological progress are obsolete; in so far as the production of things, ideas, and novel cultural content are no longer valid ways to contribute to human society; yes.

Actually, according to the article, the sperm cells are grown in sterile jelly. There would be zero contact between human and non-human cells. The researchers used mouse models to test the process. They grew mouse sperm from mouse germ cells. In the future they would like to grow human sperm from human germ cells.