But in most cases even the possibility that the correlations reflect shared genes is taboo.
Interpretation
The idea that shared genes may influence correlations between traits is often avoided in discussions.
In this quote, Steven Pinker highlights the sensitivity surrounding the topic of genetic influence on behaviors and traits. He suggests that acknowledging the role of genetics in shaping correlations is often considered unacceptable or controversial, indicating a societal reluctance to confront the implications of nature versus nurture debates.
In practice
Use this quote in a discussion on the role of genetics in psychology.
The foundation of individual rights is the assumption that people have wants and needs and are authorities on what those wants and needs are. If people's stated desires were just some kind of erasable inscription or reprogrammable brainwashing, any atrocity could be justified.
The linguistic clumsiness of tourists and students might be the price we pay for the linguistic genius we displayed as babies, just as the decrepitude of age in the price we pay for the vigor of youth.
If we are not to abandon values such as peace and equality, or our commitments to science and truth, then we must pry these values away from claims about our psychological makeup that are vulnerable to being proven false.
We adults protect ourselves with laws, police, workplace regulations and social norms and there is no conceivable reason why children should be left more vulnerable, other that laziness or callousness in considering what life is like from their point of view.
The idea that children are passive repositories to be shaped by their parents has been massively overstated. A child's peer group is a far greater determinant of its development and achievements than parental aspiration.
Reason is non-negotiable. Try to argue against it, or to exclude it from some realm of knowledge, and you've already lost the argument, because you're using reason to make your case. ... We don't "believe" in reason.
Part of knowing how to think is knowing how the laws of nature shape the world around us. Without that knowledge, without that capacity to think, you can easily become a victim of people who seek to take advantage of you.
The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform... But it is likely to exert an indirect and reciprocal influence on science itself.
No one undertakes research in physics with the intention of winning a prize. It is the joy of discovering something no one knew before.
Why do more than 40 percent of Americans think that the Universe began after the domestication of the dog?
Math is the language of the universe. So the more equations you know, the more you can converse with the cosmos.
Autoimmunity is probably the next frontier. The majority of cases of autoimmune disease result from a complex genetic problem that has environmental influences. It is a colossal task for the immune system to maintain tolerance to self and yet be ready to react to everything in the world around us.
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