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INNATE DRIVES AND SKILLS
All that is comes from the mind; it is based on the mind, it is fashioned by the mind.
—THE PALI CANON
One of the newest developments in the study of how the mind works is the avalanche of information about genetically encoded skill sets. For example, scientists now understand that human minds are preconditioned at birth to learn language. The human brain has evolved into a mechanism that can genetically carry some elements of language from one generation to the next.1 This genetic base for language is what enables children to learn to talk in grammatically patterned sentences so quickly, and then to add on those elements of language such as vocabulary that are culturally created.
This example of the human brain's genetic ...
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