• howrar
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    10 months ago

    Just like with anything else in life, you don’t know with 100% certainty, nor do you need to. But you can generally assume that if you see the same pattern over and over, that it will probably hold in future cases. When it comes to the relationship between your DNA and assigned sex at birth, that was tested in a small number of humans (work of Theophilus Painter) and the trend was found to hold. From that point on, we’ve discovered problems that are linked to one chromosome or the other which also exclusively/disproportionately affect people of one sex or the other. Evidence of this sort show that the model continues to hold up in all cases and so we continue to use it.

    • FfaerieOxide@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      10 months ago

      you don’t know with 100% certainty, nor do you need to.

      If you admit you don’t need to, why make a deal about knowing?

      • howrar
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        10 months ago

        I get the impression I’m being mistaken for someone else in this thread.

        If you’re asking about Joemo’s position, my understanding is that they think researchers are incapable of asking people for their assigned sex at birth and this will this draw incorrect conclusions from the data.

          • howrar
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            10 months ago

            No one gets their karyotype tested.

            I don’t understand what you’re getting at. Is that not exactly what I said?

            • FfaerieOxide@kbin.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              10 months ago

              If know one knows that bit of information, how can it possibly be relevant to anything?

              The lot of us live and die without knowing it.

              • howrar
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                10 months ago
                1. We do know. Just not with 100% certainty.
                2. The number of people who know about something has no bearing on its relevance. For example, the majority of people live and die without knowing how the internet works, yet it’s indisputably one of the most important pieces of technology to exist today.
                • FfaerieOxide@kbin.social
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  10 months ago

                  So you know, but you don’t know, and it’s important info, but not so important dying without ever learning would in any way affect you?

                  • howrar
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    10 months ago

                    So you know, but you don’t know

                    I feel like you’re being intentionally obtuse here. Outside of the realm of math, you can’t know anything with absolute certainty. So if you want to phrase things this way, then yes, people know things, but no one “knows” anything.

                    but not so important dying without ever learning would in any way affect you?

                    It does affect you. If you experience problematic symptoms and want to determine what the root problem is, how do you go about diagnosing it? Part of the process would include ruling out certain sex-linked diseases based on our best guess at which chromosomes you have.