Why do you make a distinction between natural and artificial selection?

If you were talking about something like using CRISPR to do gene editing I would understand, that what could be done by CRISPR in a day might require millions of years in nature - but the silver fox domestication experiment demonstrated how a very simple selective pressure could produce profound changes in just a few generations.

As for why I believe that genetics plays a role in psychological traits - it's because I don't see how they couldn't.

It is true that the issue is rather complex, and of course humans have some degree of ability to determine what they will do with their natural inclinations, but differences in behavior between ethnic groups even after generations of cultural change and assimilation, for example, point to some sort of effect of genetics on psychological traits.

This used to be commonly and universally acknowledged as self-evident. What really amazes me is the way in which social pressures have pushed people to publicly deny what most still acknowledge as obvious in private.




Baldur