Why you are not your genes, and even your genes are not “your genes”

_{Denyse O'Leary

February 2, 2012

Epigenetics, Genetics, News}

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If you consumed a fair bit of popular media during the last decade, you probably heard a lot of genetic determinism, not that the term was actually used. People’s choices, it was breathlessly reported, could be explained by the
fat gene, infidelity gene, religion gene, or violence gene.

It was a natural for pop science. The 1990s saw the human genome mapped, and some of the energy was bound to spill over from hypothesis to … hype. In those days, Nobelist Walter Gilbert, extolling the Human Genome Project, would hold up a data CD and inform his audience, “This is you.” A genome decoded.

But was it you? Or anybody? Let’s think that one out: Puberty, to take an example, is controlled by hormones. So no one wonders whether they should grow a beard or start menstruating. It just happens, and we adjust or we don’t.

But are our choices about relationships, religion, or violence really controlled by genes in the same way? If so, …

More (Best Schools,February 1, 2012) .

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of related interest:
The Mind Is Not The Brain - Scientific Evidence - Rupert Sheldrake - (Referenced Notes in video description) http://vimeo.com/33479544
also of note: the argument for God from consciousness can be framed like this:
1. Consciousness either preceded all of material reality or is a 'epi-phenomena' of material reality. 2. If consciousness is a 'epi-phenomena' of material reality then consciousness will be found to have no special position within material reality. Whereas conversely, if consciousness precedes material reality then consciousness will be found to have a special position within material reality. 3. Consciousness is found to have a special, even central, position within material reality. 4. Therefore, consciousness is found to precede material reality. (Wigner; Quantum Symmetries, Wheeler; Delayed Choice)
Moreover the consciousness that must precede quantum wave collapse, to our 'central' point of consciousness observation in the universe, is found to possess the attribute of Infinite Dimensionality, and which takes a Infinite amount of Information to describe it properly;
Wave function Excerpt "wave functions form an abstract vector space",,, This vector space is infinite-dimensional, because there is no finite set of functions which can be added together in various combinations to create every possible function. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_function#Wave_functions_as_an_abstract_vector_space Quantum Computing – Stanford Encyclopedia Excerpt: Theoretically, a single qubit can store an infinite amount of information, yet when measured (and thus collapsing the Quantum Wave state) it yields only the classical result (0 or 1),,, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qt-quantcomp/#2.1
Moreover this Infinite Dimensional/Infinite Information quantum wave state is found to be a 'real' entity, not a abstract one as is falsely assumed in many poorly founded theories within quantum mechanics:
Quantum Theory's 'Wavefunction' Found to Be Real Physical Entity: Scientific American - November 2011 Excerpt: David Wallace, a philosopher of physics at the University of Oxford, UK, says that the theorem is the most important result in the foundations of quantum mechanics that he has seen in his 15-year professional career. "This strips away obscurity and shows you can't have an interpretation of a quantum state as probabilistic," he says. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=quantum-theorys-wavefunction
Moreover, to reiterate, reality at its foundational basis is found to be 'information theoretic' in its foundation character:
Why the Quantum? It from Bit? A Participatory Universe? Excerpt: In conclusion, it may very well be said that information is the irreducible kernel from which everything else flows. Thence the question why nature appears quantized is simply a consequence of the fact that information itself is quantized by necessity. It might even be fair to observe that the concept that information is fundamental is very old knowledge of humanity, witness for example the beginning of gospel according to John: "In the beginning was the Word." Anton Zeilinger - a leading expert in quantum teleportation: http://www.metanexus.net/archive/ultimate_reality/zeilinger.pdf
As well, since our minds/brains are uniquely, and ‘easily’, producing more functional information bits than all the 'material' particles of the universe can reasonably be expected to, over the entire history in the universe, every time we write even just one sentence on a sheet of paper, then it naturally follows, compellingly, that there is something that is transcendent within us, something uniquely 'special' from all the other creatures on Earth, that strongly suggests that man was created for a unique relationship with the 'Infinite Consciousness' that 'Sustains' this universe, just as the Theistic philosophy holds. Verse:
John 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
bornagain77_{February 2, 2012
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