Statistical Nonsense

In a news story today, a scientist in England is saying that over the next hundred years or so, men will die out and only women will be left.  Of course, the women will be able to reproduce by artificial means.  This theory is based on the belief that the Y chromosome is a mutation so is unstable and is already starting to disappear. 
The news report then went into some potential benefits of this:
1) Since about 85% of soldiers are men, there would be no wars
2) Since 70% of auto accidents are caused by male drivers, the roads will be a lot safer.

I thought I would add some additional nonsensical statistics to the list:
1) Since most criminals have brown eyes, get rid of everyone with brown eyes and crime will virtually disappear
2) Most people who are environmentally insensitive or destructive are brunettes, so to save the environment, get rid of the brunettes!

Of course, all of those statistics are nonsense.  Most soldiers are men because, until recently, few countries allowed women in the military.  Some still don't.  Most accidents are caused by male drivers because about 65% of drivers are male, so the difference is very small.  And, of course, brown eyes and brunettes are far more common than blue eyes or blonds so naturally that is reflected in most events.

As for the idea that men will die out, it assumes that nothing will significantly change in the next hundred years to alter that trend.  Not likely.

 

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