The Blank Slate

For as long as we know, the nature-nurture debate has been on-going. It is no surprise that controversies arising from the “blank slate” have both political and religious interests. Societies may like to believe that humans are shaped by their parents, environment and culture, that we are indeed “blank slates” upon birth. The truth is that we are predicated on our genes a lot more than we think.

I found the book “The Blank Slate” to be extremely enlightening, almost liberating. Authored by Harvard University linguist and cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker, he presented the world in a far more perfect imperfection. I must also say that this book was long and hard to read – some 450 pages of the human nature, past thinkers, history, evolution and the issues of today. I will briefly write about points of interest but I am doing no justice to the breadth offered in this book.

I must also confess to being disappointed when reading the Gender chapter. For a long time, especially in my early twenties, I wanted to believe that men and women were equal in abilities and traits. Over the course of adulthood and friendships, I cannot deny that there are innate differences (for the majority). This book confirms that. Men are more predisposed to violence (evidenced in a bigger torso and more strength), are more into making money, have a higher tolerance for risk, more open to casual sex, better at math. Women are nurturers of children, prefer to work with people versus things, are better in languages, are more sensitive to sounds and smells. Interestingly, high-testosterone women smile less, have more extramarital affairs, have a stronger social presence and a stronger handshake. Hoho.

You may be unburdened to know that behavioural traits that reflect talents and temperaments are heritable - how proficient with language you are, how religious, how liberal, openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion-introversion, antagonism, neuroticism. Even specific traits like dependence on alcohol, nicotine and how much tv you watch turn out to be heritable. Parents may like to believe they can raise a lawyer or doctor, or that the success of their child is largely due to them. It may not be so. Sometimes a bad seed is just a bad seed even with the best parents. Sometimes a Nobel Prize winner comes from the son of a poor tailor.

I happen to agree with Pinker’s position that humans beings are not born as blank slates. Perhaps I was easily persuaded because I am an identical twin and I have seen how similar I am to my twin even when we are apart. I can read her mind and predict her thoughts. I cannot read and relate to my younger sister.

No surprises, Identical twins who were raised apart featured prominently in this field because they share all their genes and none of their environment. In the famous case of the Mallifert twins who were separated at birth - one raised as a Catholic and the other as a Jew; both turned out astonishingly similar. When picked up by the researcher SEPARATELY at the airport, both twins told him the wheel bearing in his car needed to be replaced. Both were captains of their volunteer fire department, twirled their necklaces, wore a rubberband on their left hand and enjoyed sneezing in a lift just to get attention.

According to a study of the brains of identical and fraternal twins, differences in the amount of gray matter in the frontal lobes are not only genetically influenced but are significantly correlated with differences in intelligence. Albert Einstein’s brain revealed that he had large unusually shaped inferior parietal lobules, which contribute to spatial reasoning and numbers.

Gay men are more likely to have a smaller third interstitial nucleus in the anterior hypothalamus, a nucleus known to have a role in sex differences. And convicted murderers and other violent antisocial people are likely to have smaller and less active prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that governs decision making and inhibits impulse. The features of these brains imply that differences in intelligence, scientific genius, sexual orientation and impulsive violence are not entirely learned. Is it any wonder why religion often rejects science?

Let’s assume we are blank slates. If a society eliminated discrimination, can we say that the poorest deserve their positions because they must have chosen to do less with their talents? How about if people differ in talents? You may find people in poverty in a non-prejudiced society even if they applied themselves to the fullest. Is that fair? Isn’t that happening today?

If people are assumed to start out equal but some end up wealthier than others, observers may conclude that the wealthier ones must be greedier. Many atrocities of the 20th century targeted people whose success was taken as their crime. The kulaks (bougeoise peasants) were exterminated by Lenin and Stalin in the Soviet Union, teachers, former landlords and rich peasants were tortured and murdered during China’s Cultural Revolution, the literate professionals were executed during the reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the Chinese in Indonesia and etc. All expelled because these successful members were seen as exploiters.

A non-blank slate means that a tradeoff between freedom and material equality is inherent to all political systems. These are information that might help us decide on tradeoffs in an intelligent and humane manner. This will also help us decide on a sustainable social system for the country. In a world where men are evolutionarily wired for status and dominance, a society that promotes equality like Marxism will remain a pipe dream.

While much of human ugliness is caused by human nature, much of human problems is also solved by human nature. Look at the magnitude of war, poverty and rape that mankind has brought down. Look at the significantly easier lives we lead today. Ultimately, understanding human nature will bring about better lives, better relationships, better parents and better countries. There is no need to despair.

Thank you Living for the book :)