I am having a difficult time trying to relate something science related to my life other than the tortuous years sitting at a lab desk pouring hot chemicals while talking to someone on the phone. Unfortunately, I spilled one of those chemicals on my hand and boom goes the dynamite.
After trying to read Pinker's article for the fifth time, I am starting to think about me growing up, possibly as a "blank slate." I interpreted his article that nurture prevails over nature. I personally believe that they both have equal effects on a person's evolution through life.
For instance, I grew up watching Power Rangers (not going to lie, I had a crush on the pink ranger. Yup...). Anyways, looking back, I think my mom tried to make sure I was not into cars because my biological father was huge into cars, but did not make a ton of money off of fixing cars. He did it more as a side job, but I remember he had a passion for them. I got a few hot wheels here and there, but she strayed away from getting me a lot of car related toys. When I got started into model making, she always hesistated on getting me cars. But ever since she bought me my first car (Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s #3 NASCAR car), I was hooked. I was the only seven year old hell bent on knowing the works of cars. After hanging around kids who started getting into cars in Junior High, and hanging around family members that were car fanatics, my love for cars like the American Muscle car, the Ford GT500 and Japanese Imports, like the Nissan Skyline GTR R34, grew exponentially.
Recently, I asked my mom why she steered me away from the exhaust spewing machines that I love as I grew up. Her response was simply, "Your father barely scraped by just fixing cars, until he got a full time job. I don't want to see you struggle to make money in this world." (In a nice, G-Rated way, minus the profanities she said about my dad.)
I firmly believe that you should not have to pick between nuture and nature completely. I believe that the two work together in order to shape you (and hopefully, to further evolve you) as a human being. I think no matter how hard my mom tried, I would gravitate towards cars no matter the circumstances. It is more of a hobby to me than it is life. On the other hand, I have a deep passion and love for soccer. The problem is, no one in my family loves (or even likes) soccer as much as I d0. Sure, they played it recreationally, but they stopped after awhile.
In a sense, the things I am involved in and what passions I have were shaped by both nature and nuture. I love soccer by nuture, but I love cars by nature (sounds absolutely rubbish). These are the incoherent thoughts from the nonchalant mind of Kevin. Thanks for going on this ride with me, and do not hesistate to visit now.
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I totally get where you're coming from here, especially when one parent is talking trash about the other. My father loves nerdy, sci-fi stuff, and we have similar personalities and similar interests, even though my mother tried to prevent my sister and me from seeing him at all. I think everyone accepts that nature and nuture work together to shape who we are, we're just still on the quest to find out how much of each.
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