meteorman | (no subject)

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love_struck

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[A boy can absolutely dream. Ford would like to encourage this, where he can.]

Yes! Animals have cells as well; their structure is a little different but that's not terribly important to the matter at hand. What is important is that each of the cells that make up your body contains a copy of your genes. The human body is highly-specialized and contains hundreds of different kinds of cells that each serve a unique purpose, so you can think of your genes as the instruction manual. It's actually a very simple code that your cells read and interpret.

So everything you are is decided by your genes? Every single thing?

Not necessarily; your genes govern how your body works mechanically, but there is some debate once you begin to look at behavior. Are you familiar with the concept of Nature versus Nurture?

No. I suppose I could make some rough guesses but...

[Maybe it is better if Ford just explains it all. Just to make sure Armin wouldn't be building on some misconceptions.]

It's a fairly complicated subject, but opinions tend to fall more or less into two schools of thought: some people believe that behavior and personality are inherent and decided from birth, and some people believe that humans start as a blank slate and are taught behavior by those around them.

I personally fall into the latter camp. I am a twin. My brother and I are perfectly genetically identical, and yet our personalities could not be more different. If a single case can disprove your theory then it isn't incredibly sound.

[Sure, they have similarities -- they were raised in the same time period, by the same parents. But there are fundamental differences in Ford's opinion.]

I don't know if I really know enough about the subject to comment on it, but the idea that personality is inherent and inborn seems rather... disconcerting.

[Armin is so not about anything deciding his fate, not even his own genes. But really, would that mean you'd never be able to change? Always stuck to a certain mould, unable to learn from your experiences and grow beyond that?]

It seems to me that... believing people are inherently anything is just an attempt at simplifying the world for one's own comfort.

Edited 2017-06-05 01:46 (UTC)

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