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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>But remember that while twins have the same genetic
code and a particular gene that may hardwire them to be predisposed to exhibit a
particular behavior, there is the environmental element. Twins do not live the
same exact experiences as each other. </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>Take for
example the more recent findings of a link between genetics and alcoholism in
siblings. They have the gene but they do not all exhibit the behavior. We
may not even be able to identify what specific moment(s) activated the
predisposition. There are a lot of individual variables to this issue.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Gina "Nanogirl" Miller<BR>Nanotechnology
Industries<BR><A
href="http://www.nanoindustries.com">http://www.nanoindustries.com</A><BR>Personal:
<A
href="http://www.nanogirl.com/index2.html">http://www.nanogirl.com/index2.html</A><BR>Foresight
Senior Associate <A
href="http://www.foresight.org">http://www.foresight.org</A><BR>Nanotechnology
Advisor Extropy Institute <A
href="http://www.extropy.org">http://www.extropy.org</A><BR>3D/Animation <A
href="http://www.nanogirl.com/museumfuture/index.htm">http://www.nanogirl.com/museumfuture/index.htm</A><BR>Microscope
Jewelry<BR><A
href="http://www.nanogirl.com/crafts/microjewelry.htm">http://www.nanogirl.com/crafts/microjewelry.htm</A><BR>Email:
<A
href="mailto:nanogirl@halcyon.com">nanogirl@halcyon.com</A><BR>"Nanotechnology:
Solutions for the future."<BR></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=mlorrey@yahoo.com href="mailto:mlorrey@yahoo.com">Mike Lorrey</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org
href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">ExI chat list</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, July 21, 2005 9:32
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [extropy-chat] Gay marriage
in Spain, a world of change</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><BR><BR>--- MB <<A
href="mailto:mbb386@main.nc.us">mbb386@main.nc.us</A>> wrote:<BR>>
<BR>> Recently I read Susan Blackmore's "The Meme Machine". In it she
says<BR>> the following:<BR>> <BR>> p. 137<BR>> | The taboo
against homosexuality is especially interesting.<BR>> | There is no
generally accepted biological explanation of<BR>> | homosexuality and
superficially it does not appear to be<BR>> | adaptive. Nevertheless,
evidence is accumulating that there<BR>> | is an inherited predisposition
for homosexuality. <BR><BR>Last I heard, the heritability claim has been
losing steam. Studies of<BR>gay twins found only 50% of gay identical twins
had gay twin siblings.<BR>22% of gay fraternal twins and 11% of gay siblings
reported gay twins<BR>and siblings, respectively. Technically speaking,
fraternal twins are<BR>no different from normal siblings other than sharing a
uterine<BR>environment for 9 months.<BR><BR>Simon LeVay's studies of cadaver
brains suffered in peer review because<BR>his classification of
individuals as heterosexual was problematic,<BR>especially given many claimed
heteros died of AIDS, nor could LeVay<BR>demonstrate that the brain cell
cluster differences he reported were<BR>cause or effect, or why some known
gays did not exhibit the claimed<BR>feature.<BR><BR>In 1993, a team of
researchers led by Dr. Dean Hamer announced<BR>"preliminary" findings from
research into the connection between<BR>homosexuality and genetic inheritance.
In a sample of 76 homosexual<BR>males, the researchers found a statistically
higher incidence of<BR>homosexuality in their male relatives (brothers,
uncles) on their<BR>mother's side of the family. This suggested a possible
inherited link<BR>through the X chromosome. A follow-up study of 40 pairs of
homosexual<BR>brothers found that 33 shared a variation in a small section of
the X<BR>chromosome. Although this study was promoted by the press as
evidence<BR>of the discovery of a gay gene, some of the same concerns raised
with<BR>the previous two studies apply here. First, the findings involve
a<BR>limited sample size and are therefore sketchy. Even the
researchers<BR>acknowledged that these were "preliminary" findings. In
addition to the<BR>sample size being small, there was no control testing done
for<BR>heterosexual brothers. Another major issue raised by critics of
the<BR>study concerned the lack of sufficient research done on the
social<BR>histories of the families involved.<BR><BR>Second, similarity does
not prove cause. Just because 33 pairs of<BR>homosexual brothers share a
genetic variation doesn't mean that<BR>variation causes homosexuality. And
what about the other 7 pairs that<BR>did not show the variation but were
homosexuals?<BR><BR>Finally, research bias may again be an issue. Dr. Hamer
and at least<BR>one of his other team members are homosexual. It appears that
this was<BR>deliberately kept from the press and was only revealed later. Dr.
Hamer<BR>it turns out is not merely an objective observer. He has
presented<BR>himself as an expert witness on homosexuality, and he has stated
that<BR>he hopes his research would give comfort to men feeling guilty
about<BR>their homosexuality.<BR><BR>By the way, this was a problem in every
one of the studies we have<BR>mentioned in our discussion. For example, Dr.
Simon LeVay said that he<BR>was driven to study the potential physiological
roots of homosexuality<BR>after his homosexual lover died of AIDS. He even
admitted that if he<BR>failed to find a genetic cause for homosexuality that
he might walk<BR>away from science altogether. Later he did just that by
moving to West<BR>Hollywood to open up a small, unaccredited "study center"
focusing on<BR>homosexuality.<BR><BR><BR><BR>Mike Lorrey<BR>Vice-Chair, 2nd
District, Libertarian Party of NH<BR>"Necessity is the plea for every
infringement of human freedom.<BR>It is the argument of tyrants; it is the
creed of
slaves."<BR>
-William Pitt (1759-1806) <BR>Blog: <A
href="http://intlib.blogspot.com">http://intlib.blogspot.com</A><BR><BR><BR><BR>____________________________________________________<BR>Start
your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page <BR><A
href="http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs">http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs</A>
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