this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2025
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[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 51 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

It's just a lot of copies of the same information. Not very efficient.

[–] Dadifer@lemmy.world 39 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

The dna sequence of each sperm is actually unique, and are thus not considered part of your body according to your immune system. This is why your testes are "immune-privileged", meaning your white blood cells are not allowed in there.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 40 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

So not just inefficient but also insecure? Who designed this crap?

[–] Dadifer@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Sexual reproduction is designed for variation. You can reduce it with a large amount of inbreeding. Your family, for example.

jk

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago (1 children)

My mom, my dad, my aunt and my uncle are going to beat you up! The two of them are really strong!

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This is why your testes are “immune-privileged”, meaning your white blood cells are not allowed in there.

crazy. yeah it makes sense on second thought, i guess, like there's some fuckery with the immune system of the mother not entering a child in the womb or sth. yeah it makes sense that that applies for sperm too. then, i wonder, what keeps infections at bay?

[–] Dadifer@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

I'm not sure. I'll have to look it up

[–] slothrop@lemmy.ca 27 points 2 weeks ago

They're just trying to get a point across.

[–] 30p87@feddit.org 9 points 2 weeks ago

Top Redundancy

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

It's not even. The data integrity algorithm is really kind of crap.

[–] EvilFonzy@lemmy.world 47 points 2 weeks ago

That's why I always call it a packet storm. "Girl, I'm about to DDOS that booty."

[–] ooterness@lemmy.world 40 points 1 week ago (3 children)

This calculation is off by an order of magnitude.

The human genome has about 3.1 billion base pairs. Each sperm has half of that. Ignoring epigenetics, each base pair has four options (A/T/C/G), so it can be represented by two bits each.

All told, that's 3.1 gigabits = 388 megabytes per gamete.

[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So what would the total amount of information in an average ejaculation be? Dumb it down for me, please? Lol

[–] hydroxycotton@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 week ago

... Jesús Cristo

[–] LSNLDN@slrpnk.net 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Surely after some lossless compression this could be improved drastically

[–] ooterness@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

The data would compress well, true. However, the DNA in the cell doesn't have anything like data compression, and it makes the calculations more complex, so it's only fair to compare uncompressed sizes.

[–] io@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

am i dumb or shouldn't it be 2 times 3.1 billion bits, so 6.2 gigabits according to what you said

[–] ooterness@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The full genome is 3.1 billion base pairs (6.2 Gbit = 775 MByte). Each parent (i.e., one egg or one sperm) contributes half of that, 1.55 billion base pairs (3.1 Gbit = 388 MByte).

[–] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 26 points 1 week ago

If you assume an average ejaculation distance of 9 inches and a nominal speed of 15 mph (this is apparently surprisingly well studied) - you get a data transfer rate of 46,500 TB/s.

I once joked I could jizz faster than my shitty internet connection. Guess I was right

[–] Digit@lemmy.wtf 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Here's a 75mb joke:

There were 2 sperm, swimming along.

One says to the other one:

"We've been swimming for ages. How long until the egg yet?"

The other replies:

"The egg!? Oh. It's not for miles yet. We've only just passed the tonsils."

Edit:

This calculation is off by an order of magnitude.

The human genome has about 3.1 billion base pairs. Each sperm has half of that. Ignoring epigenetics, each base pair has four options (A/T/C/G), so it can be represented by two bits each.

All told, that’s 3.1 gigabits = 388 megabytes per gamete.

Oh, in that case then, I guess that's a 776mb joke.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 4 points 1 week ago

"Egg? We're inside a raccoon's anus."

[–] ekZepp@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago
[–] SonicBlue03@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

This is why a big...hard...drive is important.

[–] kibiz0r@midwest.social 4 points 1 week ago

More buffer for the git pushin’

[–] Digit@lemmy.wtf 1 points 1 week ago

Doing a backup of some of my 18TB hard drive today.

This thread gets me thinking about that in new terms.

Not even enough space left on it for a tenth of a load.

And I thought 18TB was big when I bought it.

[–] HowAbt2day@futurology.today 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Crazy to imagine that some Tylenol can corrupt so much data.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Yep, literally crazy.

[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] salacious_coaster@infosec.pub 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Does he have to? In every single thread?

[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Sorry but he’s got a thirst

[–] Digit@lemmy.wtf 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I don't wanna think about where his sperm has been.

[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Oh I was thinking about bubbas sperm in his mouth. His has been in children and he should be in prison for that

[–] faizalr@piefed.social 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

How do they calculate that?

[–] albbi@piefed.ca 5 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Each DNA base can be represented in 4 bits because there's only 4 values: A, T, G or C. (This is a simplification because of epigenetic base modifications, but works for now). So just take the length of DNA and multiply by 4 for the amount of bits the data represents. You do have to add up the lengths of all the chromosomes considering that sperm only have one copy of each chromosome, not two. Also factor in that there is no mitochondria in sperm. Lastly, about half of the sperm will be carrying an X and half will be carrying a Y chromosome so just take the length of the (X + Y) / 2 for the sex chromosome. Now just multiply by the amount of sperm in an average ejaculation and you'll get a good estimate.

[–] ooterness@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

Each base-pair requires two bits, not four. Picking an arbitrary convention: 00 = A, 01 = T, 10 = G, 11 = C.

[–] kibiz0r@midwest.social 6 points 1 week ago

To represent 4 values, you only need 2 bits

  • 00
  • 01
  • 10
  • 11
[–] 0ops@piefed.zip 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

How do they ejaculate that?

[–] Tabula_stercore@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago
[–] Digit@lemmy.wtf 1 points 1 week ago

There are websites to help with that.

[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

So if I jerk off, I could use that to store porn, thus making me jerk off more, thus providing more porn storage…

[–] Imadethis@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Wow, I didn't know I was better than a pigeon at transmitting information across long distances.

I'm here for your large data transfer needs, business fellows!

[–] huppakee@piefed.social 5 points 1 week ago

Not sure what you consider a long distance, but if it travels as far as a pigeon you might want to go see a medical professional.

[–] db2@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Wouldn't quaternary storage need a different naming scheme?

[–] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Pff I'd be happy to reach a megabit at my age.

[–] mdk@feddit.org -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Not that much information, but a lot of redundancy. Every sperm carries the same X or Y-Chromosome. So every sperm contains the same information as half of the other sperm. Or did I miss something?

[–] FearfulSalad@ttrpg.network 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] mdk@feddit.org 3 points 1 week ago

Thank you, didn't know that