[ExI] Physics versus psychology

[Richard Loosemore]

spike wrote:
> Well, I'll be damned.  Three days after I opined thus:
> 
>> From: spike [mailto:spike66 at att.net] 
>> ...
>> ...It is sufficiently clear to me that there is 
>> a strong connection between genes and behavior, although the 
>> specific mechanism is not understood.  Like a lot of things, 
>> there is more than one gene responsible.  If we discover for 
>> instance that genes strongly influence one's political view 
>> (I think they do) then most political debate becomes largely 
>> pointless...
> 
> this shows up:
> 
> http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/10/28/researchers-liberal-gene-genetics-
> politics/?test=latestnews
> 
> Quoted from the article:
> 
> Researchers Find the 'Liberal Gene'
> 
> Don't hold liberals responsible for their opinion -- they can't help
> themselves.
> 
> A new study has concluded that ideology is not just a social thing; it's
> built into the DNA, borne along by a gene called DRD4. Tagged "the liberal
> gene," DRD4 is the first specific bit of human DNA that predisposes people
> to certain political views, the study's authors claim...
> 
> I liked this:
> 
> This isn't a typical gene association study," he said. "There's a
> combination of genes and environment that matter."
> 
> {8^D
> 
> I like it.  The article has the ring of truth to it.  For a long time I have
> pondered why it is that my brother and I are so opposite on everything
> political, yet we have always gotten along fine.  Back in the late 60s and
> early 70s, there was a show called 60 Minutes.  Now of course it has lost
> its credibility because of its association with disgraced "newscaster" Dan
> Rather, but back then they had a segment at the end called
> Point-counterpoint, with Jack Kilpatrick and Shana Alexander.  For reasons
> we never understood, my brother was always in perfect agreement with Shana,
> and I was nearly always on board with Jack.  We had very similar influences
> all along, lived in similar times, only 14 months difference in our ages,
> even had pretty much all the same friends.  All I can think of is he
> inherited the DRD4 gene and I didn't.

Taken in simultaneously by the anti-liberal propaganda machine AND the 
neuroscience bullshit machine?

Ouch, that's gotta hurt.  :-)

P.S.  I guess all those people I know who flipped their political 
allegiances from once side to the other.... they must have had gene 
therapy?  ;-)


Richard Loosemore