Posted by bob on January 16, 2002, at 0:13:05
In reply to Re: Genetics of Depression » bob, posted by IsoM on January 15, 2002, at 17:50:44
> Bob, I agree with you but...
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> If anyone has studied even a little on genetics & how characteristics are passed on from one generation to another & ALL the extra possibilities of genetic drift, crossing over & gene recombination, & whether characteristics are sex-linked or not, will know how convulated it can get. New characteristics can pop up all the time that wasn't even part of the genetic make-up of previous generations.
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> I think if we were to try & eliminate the bad traits by these people not reproducing (which I'm NOT suggesting you said), we'd lose so many of our geniuses. Lord Tennyson had a strong history of bipolar distorder in running in his family. Just doing a search on Google for creative, highly intelligent people would show many with disorders & depression.
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> I'm not saying that creative genius is linked with depression, just that along with the 'bad' genes are many that are very, very good. At this point, I think we have to accept the bad with the good, unfortunately.
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> Altruism is one of our best characteristics. No social animal can grow without this quality. Maybe if we were like Tasmanian devils, weasels, or shrews we wouldn't need it but then civilisation would never have developed. :)
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I think most would rather be happy, than creative every now and again. There must be some creative people out there that weren't mentally ill. As you say, we have to accept the bad with the good for now, because we have no other choice.Your right, I didn't suggest we eliminate bad traits by not reproducing. I was just referring to an article on genetics which actually was linked on this board. It suggested that these afflictions were due to pathogens , and not genetics, because if it had been otherwise, the incidence of the diseases would have reduced down to random genetic mutation level since even a less than one percent reduction in reproduction rate will reduce the occurrence of a gene in the population. I was just mentioning how I wasn't sure that mental illness reduces offspring all that much, if at all compared to the rest of the population.
I also didn't meant to suggest that altruism was a bad thing... on the whole it has been instrumental in passing our genes on to the next generation.
poster:bob
thread:90162
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020110/msgs/90403.html