Wise Decisions

Chapter 7Nature via Nurture: The Science of Uploading Y.O.D.A

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

—Viktor Frankl

Remember the “nature versus nurture debate”? The engaging and  ever‐popular cocktail party question about whether we humans are shaped more by our genes or by the environments we are in? Well, for the record, that debate is now a fully debunked urban legend of brain science, something called a neuromyth. Whether nature or nurture is more important in shaping who we become is, quite simply, the wrong question to ask. If you remember one thing from this chapter, it should be this:

We’re shaped by both nature and nurture. Far from determining anyone’s destiny, genes are merely a starting point for what’s possible. The rest is up to us.

Our experiences in life shape our DNA and biochemistry in a dynamic and continuous symphony that unfolds across every age and stage in life. Our genes, inherited from our parents, can be thought of as the biological templates that instill basic propensities for who we become as human beings.

Figure 7.1 Nature and nurture.

Our experience of the world around us, from the moment of conception until we take our last breath, activates the expression of our genes on the inside in a way that shapes how we look, feel, and ...