new start

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, Al Globus wrote:
>
> On Thursday, September 18, 2003, at 10:24 AM, victoriatangoman
>
> > I'm completely comfortable in saying that their child has NO
> > POSSIBILITY WHATSOEVER of becoming the nuero-surgeon. The trick
is
> > to identify the gene sequences (NOT ONE). We don't know how to do
> > that yet.
> >
> You may be comfortable, but there's not really any evidence for
this,
> at least within a single species. For example, intelligence may
be
> correlated with brain size and the number of interconnections.
This
> may be heavily influenced by the pre-natal environment, to say
nothing
> of the post-natal environment.

I'm posting the quote of the entire statement I made rather than
just the clip you took from it because the clip mischaracterizes my
point in order for you to make your point.

"Yes, that child could if within the parents the right combination
of factors linked to intelligence were passed on to the child. The
probabilites are key. If the parents didn't have those genes, then
I'm completely comfortable in saying that their child has NO
POSSIBILITY WHATSOEVER of becoming the nuero-surgeon. The trick is
to identify the gene sequences (NOT ONE). We don't know how to do
that yet."

The pre and post natal environments I held to be equal, and the
point was to analyze just the genetic components. I'm not disputing
the importance of environment! I'm holding the position that there
are genetic variables that limit potential beyond the ability of the
environment to compensate for.

To put it very bluntly - try to teach a pig to fly. It's not going
to happen.

TangoMan