Delta4Embassy
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Harvard Gazette: Researchers find a gene for fear
"Vadim Bolshakov (right) turned normally timid mice into daredevils by 'knocking out' one of their genes. The knockout rodents were more willing to explore unknown places and less intimidated by shocks and loud noises. With Bolshakov are research fellows Ryong-Moon Shin (left) and Keith Tully. (Staff photo Rose Lincoln/Harvard News Office)"
If fear is genetic, and can be removed as above (albeit in 'simpler' mice than people) the implications and applications are tremendous. And at the same time, fearful.
Fear's an evolutionary necessity. It's responsible in no small part to our success as a species that endured long enough to evolve to this point.
At the same time, it raises the question, are social phobias like homophobia 'treatable?'
A further questions: If social phobias like homophobia could be treated, or 'innoculated' against early on, should they be? Is it interfering with free will to prevent such things?
I would contend we all contribute a verse to an overall chorus of life. Even the negative voices contribute something when viewed as a whole improves 'the song.' If we removed homophobia wouldn't we be loosing something paradoxically useful or beneficial? Without dissent or opposition, would we be discussing the right or wrongness of homosexuality?
"Vadim Bolshakov (right) turned normally timid mice into daredevils by 'knocking out' one of their genes. The knockout rodents were more willing to explore unknown places and less intimidated by shocks and loud noises. With Bolshakov are research fellows Ryong-Moon Shin (left) and Keith Tully. (Staff photo Rose Lincoln/Harvard News Office)"
If fear is genetic, and can be removed as above (albeit in 'simpler' mice than people) the implications and applications are tremendous. And at the same time, fearful.
Fear's an evolutionary necessity. It's responsible in no small part to our success as a species that endured long enough to evolve to this point. At the same time, it raises the question, are social phobias like homophobia 'treatable?'
A further questions: If social phobias like homophobia could be treated, or 'innoculated' against early on, should they be? Is it interfering with free will to prevent such things?
I would contend we all contribute a verse to an overall chorus of life. Even the negative voices contribute something when viewed as a whole improves 'the song.' If we removed homophobia wouldn't we be loosing something paradoxically useful or beneficial? Without dissent or opposition, would we be discussing the right or wrongness of homosexuality?
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