Yesterday I had my first unsupervised cooking session... and as you may have guessed already, it ended in complete disaster!
While my parents had gone to supervise some stuff at the factory, I took the opportunity to get in some practice... after all, if I don't become a master chef in 3 weeks, I'll never be able to eat what I cook! So I chose to start with the simplest recipe of all: fried eggs. Basically, you put the pan on, light the stove, add some butter or ghee, and break a couple of eggs and dunk them in the pan. Finito. Er... well, there is the little matter of maintaining the temperature of the pan... while I waited for the top portion to get cooked, the bottom portion got burnt.
It was very bitter. The eggs, I mean. I took one bite and spat it out; then I had to make a quick rendezvous with the trash can. Oh well. A lesson learnt the hard way is a lesson you won't forget. So much for inheriting my Mom's talent at cooking.
Come to think of it, I don't actually believe that one can inherit talents through the genes. I mean, sure we've all seen things that "run in the blood", but there are as many contradictions as there are cases for this. I don't believe that any mental characteristics can be influenced by genetics; most definitely, not intelligence. I believe that the mental and emotional make up of a person is influenced entirely by the conditions around the child while he/she is growing up. The same goes for Scruples and Conscience. Two children brought up in the same environment with the same kind of treatment and stimuli are more likely to behave similarly than twins brought up differently. I think most people agree with that statement, the conflict comes mostly when I say that "talents" and other "natural abilities" or propensities are also totally uninfluenced by genetics. What's your opinion?
Cheers,
Prashanth.
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13 comments:
I accede unconditionally to your take on mental abilities not getting handed down to descendents via the genetic route. The best example I can think of: Shakuntala Devi's daughter loathes math and she herself has been very vocal about it.
However I must debate your views on natural abilities not being a part of the lineage package. Children are generally endowed with the physical natural abilities of their parents. For example, it is very likely that the kid of tall parents is also tall or the offspring of stout ones is also very healthy. (S)He has the natural ability to prop himself with activities that can be better performed when one is tall or healthy, say Play basket ball or wrestle.
So I would think that Agassi's kid is better equipped to taking up a sport for he is not only has acquired the natural ability to play the game, but also is under conditions where his propensity for the game, if any, can truly flourish.
I hope I am not stultifying myself here. And pray may I ask why haven't you commented on my latest post. I wish to see your view point. If it has to do with anything pertaining to my previous comments aimed at you, I can only say I was bantering.
HoH,
I meant natural abilities uninfluenced by physical characteristics. For example, cooking! I agree that if the "ability" is greatly influenced by physical characteristics alone, my hypothesis cannot hold true.
i am reminded of my first try at cooking, years ago. The way i thought i could make some dish in a jiffy and had ended up making the kitchen into a mess. It took me hours to set things right, before mom could could get back from work. Aaah.. all thats history now, i can cook food easily.
Coming to abilites being transfered, if an objective analysis is made going back to the basic science, the probabilty of a particular quality and/or physical features get transfered from parent to progeny being governed by Mendelian Genetics, it is not impossible to rule out that you will not inherit them from your parents.
It may also be possible that you get some quality which is completely absent in your parent. Mendel doesnot rule out expression of a particular gene (and hence a quality) even after generations of it being unexpressed. For example, my eye colour is strikingly different from anybody else's at home. While all of them at home have black eyes, me and my brother alone have greenish-bluish-brownish eyes...
Keeping the technicalities aside, If your mom is an amazing cook, you can hope to cook edible food sometime in future. If your mom's food is so good that you'll prefer mess grub(there are such people, believe me), then u better find good restaurants near your place of dwelling.
Practice dude practice...Psst.. try getting your cousins to taste your food.. That's what my sis used to do :( .
Prashanth your comment on Hoh's blog was a "wow" .
...so you wish to inherit mom's talent at cooking !!!
Ever thought if scientific innovations allow children to be born with everything parents know?
A head start??!!! (*Shudder*)
As of now, we know that a physically well-endowed fashionable lady can pass-on her naturally slender waistline to her daugher but not her elegant fashion sense. But she creates a condusive atmosphere for finer tastes to take root. Another example can be language-acquision; not genetic but acquired. Like a Chinese Mongoloid baby brought up by Kenyan parents might grow up to speak Swahili.
So if traits are product of nature(genes) and nurture (external enviornment); Mendel's inheritance theory suggests that genetic traits can be passed on; but not acquired traits. Reminds of the famous Weisemann's experiment that showed that chopping off the tail of rats for successive generations, did not lead to the birth of tailless rats.
But coming to you questioning "mental makeup" is product of heredity or enviorment?
Intelligence, IQ, schizophenia, depression are very much "heredity" - in the genes(exceptions exist); but also are conditioned by social enviornment. As genetic research is progressing, there's a new catch-phrase "Blame It On Genes". Its being discovered that tendency of violence, criminal-activity, bullying, alcoholism are not "only" social, but has elements of genetic-makeup ...
let scientists keep discovering n postulating new theories...
.. meanwhile, you got the potential of being a great chef; if only had you offered helping-hands in kitchen to pick up the skills just be observing. Still time....
Kaushik,
As I said, there are several examples of brilliance running in the family, but there are at least an equal number of exceptions. Hence I am inclined to assign the former to hero-worship, parental influence, atmosphere of upbringing, etc.
The type of mental madness you are talking about is related to biological factors. I'm pretty sure some, like schizophrenia cannot be passed on genetically.
Bhaand,
Of course some characteristics are passed on genetically, in particular, physical appearance. I'm conjecturing that anything related purely to the mind cannot be passed on genetically, and to my knowledge there is no proof to the contrary. If someone can pass me on a paper or a link with incontrovertible evidence, I will be happy to change my stance.
Vc,
My cousins will kill you if they knew you had such plans to poison them.
Anonymous,
I'm not very well informed on the "Blame it on the genes" syndrome, as it seems to be a field of ongoing research. But I'm quite sure that genetics has no role to play in things like IQ and schizophrenia.
i am skipping the genes bit. i now i picked the wrong ones from both of them.
as for cooking, i made dinner yestreday and lunch today. both very much edible. yay!
i learnt how to make ice creams and am gonna experiment today. pray for me .....
You seem to be very convinced that genetics has no role to play in IQ or intelligence . I think differently, and though I dont have solid proof, I may try my little persuative skills to make to you rethink....
It can be argued that if heredity determines intelligence; then Einstein's parents should have been exceptonally intelligent too. But there's no such evidence.. AGREED!!!
Same question for environment...
If environment determines intelligence then why just... one Einstein, one Gandhi, one Mozart, one Freud , One Picasso, one Darwin ....???
They are EXCEPTIONS!!!!
If Shakuntala Devi's daugheter can be used as an example to refute genetic route; then Ravi Shankar's daughter Norah Jones can be used to establish it.
Though role of heredity is well established in height, eye-color; its difficult when it comes to IQ, intelligence. An example given is that smart parents may read more books to kids resulting in higher vocabulary, making difficult to determine influence of genetics n enviornment.
So come to Negative Reasoning:
Many types of mental diseases are linked to heredity: Alzheimer's , depression, Schizophrenia. This link is defined as heredity creates VULNERABLE CONDITIONS for disease and then of course enviornment influences the onset or not....
So if mental disease is influenced by heredity why not mental health, IQ, intelligence???
Identical twins raised in different enviornments by different adoptive parents still show similar IQ...
lol. my first experience with cooking did not end in disaster but i guess that was because my mother was nearby to prevent any disasters :)
Tipsy,
You're learning how to make ice-cream?? Looks like its you who has to put out that Shaadi.com advertisement ;)
Su,
I've had several fruitful cooking sessions with my Mom that went quite well. This was my first Unsupervised one, and see what happened!!
Anonymous,
Being not too knowledgeable in this area, I accede that you could be right. But from personal experience I stand by my viewpoint, for now.
Just curious, how's cooking progressing?
Initial failures hardly reflects what lies ahead. Einstein did not like school, he even failed at the entrace exams at a polytechnic institute at Zurich...
BUT later it all changed n today he's called the most intelligent man to ever walk this earth...
Though I dont expect to see world greatest chef in you, but you may turn out quite a good one...
cooking is anyways an "acquired trait" and the best way you could it is that you observe your mom..... helping hand...
So how's it going???
btw, I liked the caption: burnt eggs n genetics"
*Intern
np, if I did not convince you on intelligence being determined by heredity, it is only in the form of ... heredity creates "conditions" ... n enviornment takes over...
just that "Intelligence" is different from knowledge; it maybe the ability to learn faster, to adapt, creativity, reasoning...
(n I'm sure u knew that)
and I even like your new topic on Spirituality n Religion...
Ah well... I haven't been putting that much effort at learning of late... I can never seem to wake up at the Ungodly hours at which the cooking gets done (7:00 am.. imagine! who would get up before seven on a holiday?)
So when I DO land up in the US, my new roommates will have to dig deep and find the resolve and patience to survive until I polish up my cooking skills :D
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