# Hypothetical: Proving Aliens Gave One a Vasectomy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795 "2016-09-25T02:23:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Clarence01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@Clarence01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clarence01)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/1 "2016-09-25T02:23:01Z")
Would you be able to prove it if aliens gave you a vasectomy overnight? Is there a common way they could laser you so that it looked like a genetic defect? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/2 "2016-09-25T02:33:04Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Snorri\_Thorfinnsson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@Snorri\_Thorfinnsson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snorri_Thorfinnsson)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/3 "2016-09-25T02:58:22Z")
Assuming one knew that they were fertile they could go in (after a certain time for the tubes to clear out (as it were)) and have a test to ascertain that they were still fertile. If still fertile, then nothing likley happened (or it was bungled). In not still fertile there is alwys the possiblity that something else is coincidentally at fault and so further testing might be needed to see what is the cause. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/4 "2016-09-25T03:18:04Z")
Need answer fast? ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/5 "2016-09-25T03:20:48Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/6 "2016-09-25T03:27:12Z")
Well, yes, if they left traces that can’t be explained otherwise. Say I visit my doctor on Tuesday and get a groinal CAT scan, showing my tubes all normal. Then, for whatever godforsaken reason, I visit again on Wednesday and get another CAT, and it shows not only the vas tubes cut, but micro-stitched in a way no earthly surgeon could match. Just for kicks, the sutures are made of materials not found on earth. And there’s a star-map engraved on the inside tissue of the scrotum. With, like, eta Cassiopeia highlighted. Otherwise, without extraordinary evidence, the extraordinary claim wouldn’t attract many believers. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/7 "2016-09-25T03:35:07Z")
Genetic defect is going to be shall we say “difficult”. That implies that the vasectomy was, well, due to something in your genes you were born with. Such a defect is part of every cell in your body. Congenital defect is maybe what you mean - ie you were born like it. Again difficult. Such a defect would probably not look like severed or mechanically closed vas-deferens. Totally missing perhaps, or perhaps fibrosed up, or maybe with no useful actual duct. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/8 "2016-09-25T03:39:04Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Well, yes, if they left traces that can’t be explained otherwise. > > Say I visit my doctor on Tuesday and get a groinal CAT scan, showing my tubes all normal. Then, for whatever godforsaken reason, I visit again on Wednesday and get another CAT, and it shows not only the vas tubes cut, but micro-stitched in a way no earthly surgeon could match. > > Just for kicks, the sutures are made of materials not found on earth. > > And there’s a star-map engraved on the inside tissue of the scrotum. With, like, eta Cassiopeia highlighted. > > Otherwise, without extraordinary evidence, the extraordinary claim wouldn’t attract many believers. Except the electron microscope pass over the sub-nuclear quantum core processor shows the logo INTEL fairly clearly … it’s was someone from the future, not an alien. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/9 "2016-09-25T05:12:40Z")
Even if you could prove that you had a vasectomy, it would still be vastly more likely that it was performed by humans, rather than by aliens. Even if you could prove not only that you had a vasectomy but that the surgical techniques used were beyond the knowledge of medical science, it would _still_ be vastly more likely that it was done by an unusually gifted and pioneering human surgeon than that it was done by aliens. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/10 "2016-09-25T05:19:35Z")
> [@Clarence01](#): > > Would you be able to prove it if aliens gave you a vasectomy overnight? Sure, if you had evidence of same. No one ever does, though. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/11 "2016-09-25T05:53:29Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Even if you could prove that you had a vasectomy, it would still be vastly more likely that it was performed by humans, rather than by aliens. Even if you could prove not only that you had a vasectomy but that the surgical techniques used were beyond the knowledge of medical science, it would _still_ be vastly more likely that it was done by an unusually gifted and pioneering human surgeon than that it was done by aliens. Right. All you could prove was that the vasectomy was done in some unusual way. You couldn’t prove it was aliens, because aliens aren’t known to exist. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/12 "2016-09-25T06:25:07Z")
Sherlock Holmes’ dictum: you can disprove all other hypotheses. It might be that the procedure is not performable by any human doctor. However, this still leaves **watchwolf49** ’s notion it was done by time-travellers, and the idea that it was done by magic or miracle would also be difficult to eliminate positively. I’m still gonna say that aliens might leave specific clues that act as a “signature.” Maybe they drop a photograph of themselves performing the surgery. You don’t want to be so skeptical that you never accept any hypothesis. Go on, prove that your doctor performed a vasectomy on you. I can make all of the same objections! Do you want your epistemology to be based on “conventional knowledge?” If that’s the case, then no amount of proof, ever, would suffice to establish alien visitation. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/13 "2016-09-25T09:05:39Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Sherlock Holmes’ dictum: you can disprove all other hypotheses. \"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.\ ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/14 "2016-09-25T11:52:21Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > Sure, if you had evidence of same. No one ever does, though. He’ll have evidence once the aliens bill his insurance. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/15 "2016-09-25T12:09:03Z")
> [@Clarence01](#): > > Would you be able to prove it if aliens gave you a vasectomy overnight?.. Nothing to add here to what others have already said. No, you wouldn’t be able to prove it. > [@Clarence01](#): > > … Is there a common way they could laser you so that it looked like a genetic defect? We have no idea what ways are common to them. If “them”\* exist in the first place, which is wildly unproven. - “Them” being Earth-visiting vasectomy-performing aliens. Not life in some form elsewhere in the Universe which I assume is incredibly common. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/16 "2016-09-25T12:14:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Trinopus** : > > You don’t want to be so skeptical that you never accept any hypothesis. Go on, prove that your doctor performed a vasectomy on you. I can make all of the same objections! But the standard of evidence depends on just what it is you’re trying to prove. Vasectomy-performing human doctors are known to exist and to be relatively common, so it takes much less evidence to reach any given confidence level in that hypothesis than in the alien-surgeon hypothesis. ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/17 "2016-09-25T13:52:40Z")
Let’s say I don’t care about proving it. Can you recommend some specific field I can go stand in to get it done? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/18 "2016-09-25T14:09:28Z")
You’re sure it was aliens? Sometimes a cigar-shaped flying object is just a cigar-shaped flying object… ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/19 "2016-09-25T19:20:04Z")
Well, let’s look at this logically. Obviously after a civilization develops interstellar travel, the first thing they’re going to want to do is go find some intelligent alien life form, isolate a member of said life form, and perform a nearly-undetectable vasectomy on him. Why else would you develop interstellar travel? On the other hand, we all know that the purpose of life is to reproduce itself. So it wouldn’t make sense for an organism to become sterile for no reason. It violates life’s prime directive. The inescapable conclusion is, if a man is sterile, it is because of an alien vasectomy. That’s it. No need to look for evidence. –Mark ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2016, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795/20 "2016-09-25T20:33:30Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Well, let’s look at this logically. Obviously after a civilization develops interstellar travel, the first thing they’re going to want to do is go find some intelligent alien life form, isolate a member of said life form, and perform a nearly-undetectable vasectomy on him. Why else would you develop interstellar travel? > > On the other hand, we all know that the purpose of life is to reproduce itself. So it wouldn’t make sense for an organism to become sterile for no reason. It violates life’s prime directive. > > The inescapable conclusion is, if a man is sterile, it is because of an alien vasectomy. That’s it. No need to look for evidence. > > –Mark But what if it’s part of the aliens’ long-term plan to colonize Earth? First, they sterilize all the men, wait 100 years for humans to die out, then just take over all the machinery and buildings that remain without a fight! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-proving-aliens-gave-one-a-vasectomy/766795.md?page=2)