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Old 05-04-2008, 12:09 PM   #6 (permalink)
Og
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I tend to think that that your identity has much more to do with your life experiences that form your psyche versus your genetic makeup. I tend to think that genetic makeup certainly has a role in this as it can put limits on things like your height and bone structure. But things like prenatal vitamins can have a huge effect on this as well. Genes tend to lay a framework and then culture constructs this blank slate into who you are today.

Also, it's about 2^23 possible combinations of genes. That's the number of combinations of 23 chromosomes in a set of 23 chromosomal pairs. That assumes an equal probability of distribution of chromosomes. So your probability is 1:2^23 or 1:8,388,608... Is that better than the lotto?

One thing that is also interesting is that for us guys, there is only ONE possibility for our maleness. There is just that ONE Y chromosome that is passed from dad to son and there is never another option.

I watched this remarkable documentary (i think it was national geographic) where a scientist traveled from africa to india to siberia to alaska to america and sequenced the Y chromosome of natives to the area and tracked mutational divergence and thus mapped out the process of diaspora of the human race from its african origins.

Fascinating stuff.
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