Yes, Genes Make People Different

Here is a copy of a video that got 10 million views:

[MSNBC/MSNOW reporter] 1:26 but there's no scientific evidence to prove that a black woman and a white woman are genetically different. Right? ... I mean this is like government data. ...

1:58 I'll say that again there's there is at least there is no scientific evidence to prove that

She is quite emphatic about it, and could have edited the comment out of the recording if she wanted to.

I am not posting this to make fun of her for not knowing basic biology. She probably took a college class where she was taught this.

We live in a world where DNA tests are commonplace, and the tests can identify race, other biological traits, and close relatives. We see professional athletes who are the sons of other professional athletes. And yet people recoil with horror at the suggestion that genes have something to do with who you are.

Here is another example:

Alison Gopnik is a well-known professor at UC Berkeley and popular writer on developmental child psychology, the Mind and Matter columnist for the Wall Street Journal from 2013-2023.

The biggest known influences on developmental child psychology are surely genetics and IQ. There is an enormous amount of research on this, so she would write about it, right?

No, she denies that any such questions are interesting.

the common features of, say, what kids are doing are much more interesting than the variations. What I really want to know is how is it that anyone could have a brain that enables them to accomplish these amazing capacities? Thinking about, is this child smarter than the other one, given how unbelievably smart all of them are to begin with, I just think it’s not an interesting question.

No, she cannot really believe this. Any academic study of child development is going to look at why some kids turn out better than others. Otherwise what is the point?

The problem is that the research is too interesting, and too unsettling for many people.

Update: Here is another example of people scared of genetic info: DNA paternity tests are illegal in France, Germany, and Switzerland.