Comment by billconan | Hacker News Reader

Comment by billconan | Hacker News Reader

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When I was in high school, I topped my class. Some of my classmates started to call me about questions in their quizzes. I could remember the exact descriptions of the quiz questions back in few months. So when they asked me about certain question, I didn't need my exam papers. They told me the number of a question, I could give both the question and the answer. I didn't remember the question on purpose, I simply did because I took the quizzes. I lived in an Asian country, where daily quizzes were more than 1 hour long,

My classmates admired my ability of remembering things. I enjoyed that feeling quite a bit. Yet, I couldn't take any intelligence test.I was afraid that the result of my test might look bad.

I often hear about Gene scientist saying that they have discovered certain gene that defines certain "ability" of people, for example, "good-looking gene", "criminal gene". It seems that everything is deterministic (to some extend) by genes.

It sounds like at certain time in the future, they can discover a "loser gene" such that a child can be tagged in his young age.

Gene technology is making Determinism more true than ever before. And that is a very horrible fact. If I knew that I would be a loser, I would have given up my life.

I was afraid of IQ tests, I still am. I want to try different things in my life, no matter if I am inherently good, or bad at it. IQ tests are evil. They are the ruthless lifetime sentence against endeavor.

Genes are a lot more complicated than that. Unless you get some really blatant genetic problem, like Down Syndrome, there's a very heavy environmental component to how you turn out. And that's exactly what you want, isn't it? You want your life not to be predetermined, or even predictable -- and that seems to be the way things really are!

Of course, some people do wind up with, say, a genetic predisposition to alcoholism or depression. But if you have something like that, wouldn't you like to know about it? If you know that you're predisposed to alcoholism (or whatever) then you can do something about it, instead of just letting it happen to you.

Apologies, but this attitude is quite annoying: "As long as you're healthy and a hard worker, you too can be a genius! It just takes time!"

If anyone bothered to try to answer the question "do genetics matter much?" by examining real-world prodigies, they would be forced to conclude "Yes, genetics are equally important to upbringing/environment".

Read through this, then claim genetics don't matter:

"This was Richard Feynman nearing the crest of his powers. At twenty-three ... there was no physicist on earth who could match his exuberant command over the native materials of theoretical science. It was not just a facility at mathematics (though it had become clear ... that the mathematical machinery emerging from the Wheeler–Feynman collaboration was beyond Wheeler's own ability). Feynman seemed to possess a frightening ease with the substance behind the equations, like Albert Einstein at the same age, like the Soviet physicist Lev Landau—but few others."

— James Gleick, Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman

Fun fact: Feynman mastered Calculus by age 15. He didn't just learn it; he derived it himself.

I'm also irritated by the inaccuracy of that attitude, which is why I never expressed it. Of course genetics are a big deal. They just aren't the only thing, which was the subject at hand.

Sorry! Didn't mean to imply you did. It was sort of a tangent... a lot of people think that way, and so I sort of had a bone to pick with 'em. Cheers.

Ah! I withdraw my indignation. :-)

Gattaca explores this concept nicely: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gattaca I think we will get there someday. Then after that, those who can it afford will flip on all the intelligence genes for their children. That world will be a much more "interesting" place then one where you know you were "born stupid". You will be less intelligent because you were too porn, or your parents didn't believe in genetic modification.

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