Destiny Or Biology - Do Our Genes Govern Our Fate?

- Brooke Benson Campbell

Flash back to 1979. Two identical twins, Jim Springer and Jim Lewis, were reunited at age 39, after being separated as one-month olds and adopted by different families. They found, when comparing stories, that both had married and divorced a woman named Linda and remarried one named Betty. Both had interests in carpentry and mechanical drawing, smoked Salem cigarettes, drove pale-blue Chevrolets, found spelling difficult and had worked as part-time deputy sheriffs. Both also named their first son James Alan, and their pet dogs ‘Toy’. The basis of their identities seemed to be written in their genes.

Some of us may find this story disturbing. We like to think that we are the masters of our destiny, that we make choices on the basis of our own conscious reflection, that we are personally responsible for our path in life, that the future is ours to shape. And yet does this story prove our final decisions are already pre-programmed in genetic code? Is ‘my genes made me do it’ a viable get-out of-jail-free catch-cry?

Nearly 100 years ago, Freud wrote that ‘biology is destiny’ but when we consider the latest discoveries in the field of epigenetics and behavioural science, is this still accurate? In the nature versus nurture debate, who emerges triumphant? Let’s walk the genetic plank to answer the age-old question: do our genes govern our fate?