'Warrior Gene' Linked To Gang Membership, Weapon Use

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090605123237.htm

by amichail • 17 years ago

22 34 17 years ago

sciencedaily.com

amichail• 17 years ago

Just as computers and the internet have caused all sorts of problems with existing laws, so too will genetics.

In both cases, there is no solution in sight.

TriinT9• 17 years ago

A solution would be to allow violence in a controlled environment, rather than suppress it completely.

Boys like to fight. Instead of denying it, why not nurture it in a responsible manner? Get the angry teenage kids out of the cities and suburbs and give them a real challenge. Martial arts, full-contact, hiking, rock-climbing, white-water rafting. Whatever works to keep them busy and physically tired.

Most kids don't like to learn. Only a very few teenage boys can be entertained with math and programming puzzles. But if you give the majority of teenage boys some macho stuff to do, they will most likely embrace the challenge.

LogicHoleFlaw2• 17 years ago

You've just described the Boy Scouts, in many respects.

crescendo• 17 years ago

I can't remember where I read it now, but there was a very well reasoned argument positing that this is essentially why we have sports. A sport is a means of venting primal violent and competitive urges in a way that's controlled and (usually) not harmful to civilized society, so they claimed. This violent expression works directly for those playing and vicariously for those watching.

abefortas• 17 years ago

Providing an outlet for it might be pretty much the same thing as encouraging it.

Now, if you could reliably identify kids who needed the outlet and have them do it, but leave the rest of us alone, that would be fine. But I shudder to think how I would have turned out if I was subjected to the kind of thing you're proposing. I was a pretty impressionable kid.

jamesbritt2• 17 years ago

"Most kids don't like to learn. "

Sure they do.

Most kids don't like to learn stuff they deem stupid and useless.

GiraffeNecktie• 17 years ago

It's too bad the article doesn't provide more information and context. There are lots of studies that show people with gene x are more prone to y, but for a given individual the results are not a useful predictor of anything. Therefore it's a little troubling that people can be flagged as "potential violent gang member" based on their genetics.

skushch• 17 years ago

Yeah it is a little shady, but still an interesting topic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAOA#Warrior_gene

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maori#Modern_socio-economic_iss...

http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/120-1250/2441/

tokenadult• 17 years ago

There are lots of studies that show people with gene x are more prone to y

Yes, and many of those studies aren't replicated when another data set is looked at. Gene association studies related to human behavior are thus far very subject to failure of replication.

http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html

Maybe some day there will be better studies with more reliable, replicable findings. Then there should be a way to tease out what environmental influences provide resiliency and protect against the effects of risky genes. Meanwhile, the first thing to do with this result is to see if it holds up in a different cohort of young people tested for gene associations to behavior.

kingkawn• 17 years ago

Next we're going to hear about the higher prevalence of this gene in minority communities, and then we'll hear how the prison-industrial complex was really wonderful all along.

ilaksh• 17 years ago

So the logical thing to do is to create a gene therapy correcting germlines with this variant and provide it to juvenile delinquents (or simply confirmed carriers) before they reproduce.

qaexl3• 17 years ago

Farmers breed docility into their livestock so that they are easier to handle when sending them to the slaughterhouse.

joeycfan• 17 years ago

More anti-male crap. These genes are necessary for human survival, but academics think everyone lives in a fluffy pink cradle - like them.

'Warrior Gene' Linked To Gang Membership, Weapon Use

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