2021-10-11 20:05:23
Today, while exploring the topics that I tried to disseminate almost twenty years ago, I have come across one of my favorite scientific topics: genes and their influence on behavior. For me this is a major topic that tries to answer the question, what is a human being, from analysis, observation and scientific logic? I don’t know if you too, I suspect so, but to me, during my early education, an idea of the human being was transmitted to me that, as I discovered later, is not based on those premises. They assured me that the human being is made up of body and soul and that intelligence resides in it, when there is one, and will. The will and, ultimately, the human behavior that depends on that will would therefore be detached from the body and would depend only on the soul. For that reason, we are supposed to be free and, therefore, we can be held responsible for our actions. In my opinion, the entire social order that we enjoy and suffer is still based on this idea of the human being. As I think you will think with me, the subject has a lot of substance, because basing such important things on ideas whose veracity has not been verified is still something shocking in these times.
The teachings I received during childhood, as on so many other occasions, entered into a direct collision with what science was revealing about nature, including our own. In particular, the discovery that mutations in certain genes could affect nothing less than the control of aggressive behaviour, one of the most persecuted and penalized behaviors throughout history, and also one of the most necessary behaviors for the survival of so many species, including Homo sapiens, undermined the foundations of the beliefs they tried to implant in me about my own nature. For this reason, the issue of the influence of genes on human behavior was one of the first topics I addressed.
Here you can read the article published in February 2002.
What can we say today about the influence of genes on behavior, particularly aggressive behavior?
The first thing we can say is that the studies that have been produced in these two decades have made it clear that there are numerous gene variants that affect aggressive behavior, and also suicidal behavior, which is still aggression against oneself. However, there is no single gene for aggression. What are the most important genes? Those that manufacture proteins related to the management of neurotransmitters, the molecules necessary to put neurons in communication with each other. Among these genes are those that make enzymes necessary for their production, for their degradation and elimination, and for their transport in synapses.
Studies have also shown that genes do not act alone but in combination not only with the environment, but also with other genes. Obviously, an aggressive and stressful environment, perhaps too competitive, can exacerbate aggressive behavior in animals and people. However, in the same environment certain gene variants do not always result in aggressive behavior in animals. For example, mice without the gene NOS that were so aggressive were of a certain lineage. By removing the gene from mice of another lineage, we could say from another genetic baggage, they continued to behave in a normal and civilized way for a mouse. This means that certain mutations may affect behavior depending on what other gene variants accompany them and also depending on the environment in which the organisms live.
However, this in no way changes the substance of the matter. And this is none other than, whether we like it or not, our behavior, according to what science is revealing, depends on our genes. Needless to say, we haven’t been able to pick which gene variants we’ve been lucky. Nor can we control the environment in which we have to live, for the most part, and that affects how genes act. I let you draw the conclusions you think are right for yourself.
To say goodbye, if you want to read something more on this topic, I recommend the book I wrote on it. It is a novel entitled Chained Circumstances that tells the story of a murderer and rapist trapped by his genes and who tries to escape from them. It is not written in such magnificent language as that of Vargas Llosa, or that of García Márquez, but the important thing about language is not only its beauty, but also the ideas it tries to communicate.
(Jorge Laborda 10/11/2021)
Works by Jorge Laborda.
Your defenses against coronavirus
Your defenses against coronavirus
Deflamed immunology: An introduction to the immune system and its pathologies
Deflamed immunology: An introduction to the immune system and its pathologies
Deflamed immunology: An introduction to the immune system and its pathologies
Kilo of Science Volume XII eBook
Kilo of Science Volume XII Paper
Kilo of Science Volume I. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume II. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume III. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume IV. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume V. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume VI. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume VII. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume VIII. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume IX. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume X. Jorge Laborda
Kilo of Science Volume XI. Jorge Laborda
Matrix of homeopathy
Chained circumstances. Ed.Lulu
Chained circumstances. Amazon
One moon, one civilization. Why the Moon tells us that we are alone in the Universe
One moon, one civilization. Why the Moon tells us that we are alone in the Universe
One Moon one civilization why the Moon tells us we are alone in the universe
The thousand and one bases of ADN and other science stories
Adenius Fidelius
The intelligence funnel and other essays
The gods have been cloned
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