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Comment by marcell | Hacker News Reader

I’m surprised by the eagerness to dismiss this trend, both in the above article and the discussion here. A lot of saying it’s not happening, and even if it is, it doesn’t matter. Like the saying goes, “It was a long time ago and it didn’t happen.”

In reality, even if it’s possible to have kids with 50% lower sperm counts, that’s not really the point. That is a huge drop, and likely indicates other changes as well. Testosterone levels are way down over the last few generations. Is that related? What about rising rates of depression among young men [1]?

Clearly something is going on here.

[1] https://i.insider.com/5c927ddd4f07ae5d161a603f?width=1000&fo...

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>>Clearly something is going on here.

That's the entire point of the article - that it's less clear than you might think. There are several reasons why the average sperm counts might be reported as lower than they were in the past, and it's not necessarily an indication of a society-wide problem.

It’s definitely a massive change, but it’s worth noting we don’t exactly have long term numbers on this. The first studies on sperm count are from 1929, and we started to see this issue in the 1970s. It could be that we’re seeing a drop down from a period where sperm counts were unnaturally high for some reason, as opposed to a lowering below baseline human levels.

(Do I think that’s likely? No, probably we’re seeing the affect of one of the many chemicals that have been introduced over the last 100 years. But it’s always worth thinking through all possibilities)

I completely agree, it's deeply concerning that a huge number of opinions on this topic in educated circles seem to think that increased difficulty in having kids and lower testosterone levels are a good thing. You can see it in the responses to this article in these comments, but also I have heard the same opinions after working with my friends in Silicon Valley for many years.

They legitimately seem to regard humans as a kind of virus (literally have had multiple people use that word exactly to me in conversation), and cheer on the reduction in the number of people. This is problematic for many reasons, but just on the surface, cheering on the sexual dysfunction of your fellow man, this is just immoral and unethical on so many levels to me.

Per the article, there is really very little evidence that anything is happening at all with sperm counts. There is a good chance that there is no effect, that it's all measurement artifacts and/or localized changes.

> Testosterone levels are way down over the last few generations. Is that related?

Might that also have to do with declining crime rates?

Can't help put make a comparison between that denial and denial of increasing temperature measurements on the planet....

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