My Genes Are To Blame!

Research just in*:  Approximately 250 genes in the human genome are considered “expendable”, and the “average” person is tooling around with approximately 20 broken or inactive genes (0.01 percent) out of a total of 20,000. 

But how many MORE genes and/or clusters of genes that AREN’T expendable are slightly askew (mutated or expressed in higher or lower-than-normal amounts) in YOUR geniusome?  How about the “tired” gene?  The “disorganized” gene?  The “perseveration” gene?  The “OCD” or “ADHD” gene?  The “Couch Potato” gene cluster?   

Perhaps more to the point:  How good – really – are you at compensating for any deficits? 

In this 21^st Century, we know that persons predisposed to heart disease can compensate to a considerable degree through diet and exercise.  We know that persons predisposed to colon cancer can compensate substantially by diet, exercise and an annual colonoscopy.  We know that fair-skinned people can reduce the risk of skin cancer by protecting themselves from UV radiation.  Persons with a predisposition to dementia can compensate to some degree through both physical and mental exercise.  And then – for SOME things – there’s “medication”.     

But not – so far – for stupidity, foot-in-mouth disease, mere/sheer naïveté, “bull-headedness”, or pomposity – replete with unfounded assumptions and unrealistic expectations … or for the standard panoply of human vices: Lust, Avarice, Sloth, Gluttony, Pride, Envy and Anger.   

Persons prone to addiction or to the subordinating powers of inertia may have an even more difficult time.  However, effective proactive compensations can still be made. 

BOTTOM LINE: Success in life is largely determined by how well we compensate for (i.e., not cover-up or merely “give free license” to) our deficiencies and exorbitances.  We are ALL compromised by our own discombobulated constellation of endowments.  

ACTION PLAN: Let’s take inventory and hammer out a workable plan of compensation.  Our genes may be to blame for a plethora of incompetencies.  But if we don’t make the effort to compensate, we can’t expect to compete or participate in the same gene pool with those who are more gifted and/or with those who are more ardent and effective in compensation. 

CAVEAT: Each of us certifiably has undeciphered aberrations in our respective Philosopho-Psychosomes.  So it would serve each of us well to simply compensate for everything we can imagine and, thus, stop repeatedly tripping over ourselves – a fairly tall order most days!   

“We are normally blind about our own blindness.  We’re generally overconfident in our opinions and our impressions and judgments.  We exaggerate how knowable the world is (and how much we know about it.)”   Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize-winning Economist

 

*Research team led by Daniel G. MacArthur of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in England. Published February 16, 2012 in Science.  Reported by David Brown, The Washington Post February 17, 2012.