From: gts (gts_2000@yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Oct 08 2002 - 12:45:28 MDT
Robert J. Bradbury wrote:
> The genes enable specific activities (at cellular or intercellular
> levels) that certainly have an impact on personalities.
Right.
> However, that is not to say that these effects cannot be emulated by
> relatively unsophisticated systems. (After all the
> visual-testosterone feedback loops can't be *that* complicated.)
Actually if you've ever studied the endocrine system then you know it is
extremely complicated. The feedback loops that control hormone levels
are very complex and still not completely understood. That information
is however contained in our genes.
> It is going to be quite interesting as I would guess there are
> individuals who are very much their hormones while there may be
> other individuals who are much less so.
Yes. And those differences account for much of the differences in human
personality.
It's true that we might eventually learn to change our personalities in
new ways, either via gene therapy or via some far more advanced method.
But we need to start by first codifying our existing personalities.
The example of testosterone leads to another interesting question: as an
agent of aggression and assertiveness its effects surely must be encoded
to preserve our personalities. But what of its function as an agent of
sexual desire? Testosterone is integral to the sex drive in both men and
women. Sexual desire affects our day-to-day thoughts and behaviors and
personal interactions in subtle ways even when we are not focusing on
it... we are very sexual beings. If we eliminate the sexual effects of
sex hormones then our personalities will change quite dramatically (and
life will be much less fun. :) Is this what we want? I think not.
-gts <wondering what sex will be like in the transhuman future>
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