> The great difficulty so far in linking up genetics with psychology is
> going to
> last *forever* because there aren't enough genes. Really. This is
> settled
> science now; there are only about 30,000 genes in the human sequence.
> That
> means it is, always and forever, going to be impossible to find
> one-for-one
> links between psychological traits and DNA-RNA sequences. One might
> argue that
> psychological traits are coded in "gene complexes", but the simple
> combinatorics of the matter suggest that claim is always going to be a
> matter
> of faith rather than anything which could realistically be proven.
There aren't "enough" genes for the body either, in that sense -- how could 30,000 genes provide enough "information" to create the complex human body, particularly since there are almost as much genes in the genotype of a worm, If I'm not mistaken?
The answer is: the genes code for proteins, and the proteins constitute the structure of the body (including the bran) as well as providing the enzymes which catalyze the chemical events taking place in it. No one thinks that every detail of either the body or the mind is "genetically determined" -- it's the general framework.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ "In an ideal world, people would be preoccupied with reading and writing poetry and having love affairs, as people were in the Japanese court in the 11th century, as described in 'The Tale of Genji.' If people were involved in that type of life, maybe there would be no war." -- Wallace Shawn