"Robert J. Bradbury" <bradbury@www.aeiveos.com> writes:
> Since we have only scratched the tip of the iceberg, I think the
> people who want to believe "I *am* my own master", have their
> work cut out for them in defending, what I predict will be an
> ever shrinking set of characteristics, behaviors, desires, motivations,
> etc. of which they are the master. Yes, we can modify ourselves,
> but our degrees of freedom are *limited*, until we have the
> technologies to change the hardware.
Reminds me of the cartoon "Over the Hedge". A character asks the Tree That Knows Things:
I would say that this genetic view is however a bit limited, because the interplay between the genes produces so much complexity. Sure, the neurotransmittor receptor alleles I have influence my personality a lot, but my personality is the result just of the interaction between these genes and the environment. It is not something set in stone, it can be modified quite a bit. Still, it is great fun to be able to figure out just what causes our various motivations and quirks, the more I understand of how I work, the better I think I become at using what I am to achieve what I want.
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