genes

A recent study of dyslexia, and how it affects different parts of the brains of children reading in English or Chinese, is gaining a lot of attention and being posed as another example of the "neurbiological clues" of dyslexia. But studies of differential dyslexic rates and definitions have gone on for decades. The issue isn't just neurobiological but the intertwined relationship of neurobiology, culture, history, and linguistics. Once again, brain-determinism shortchanges the complexity of the research findings.

As we find out more about imprinted genes, it may turn out that the world we create (on all levels) is the most important factor in determining the diseases to which we are susceptible. What moral and social rules should we uphold if we are not genetically determined but genetically responsible for our fate and that of others?