[Dragaera] Boing!

[Davdi Silverrock]

On 9/7/06, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
> On 9/7/06, Davdi Silverrock wrote:
>
> > Regardless of how the genes of the other critters were introduced into
> > the Dragaeran genome, they are obviously a small percentage (less than
> > 0.1%, I would guess) and possibly non-functional, or at most, of very
> > minor functionality.
>
> Do you have anything in the way of textev for this?

Nope.  Just a hunch, strengthened recently because of reading up on
how development works, and following popular articles on genetics and
evolution &c.

>  There seems to be
> a general belief that there are fairly broad tendencies for a house to
> follow its totem animal in general attitudes and preferences, and I
> wouldn't think that could be conveyed by very small amounts of spliced
> in genes, possibly non-functional.

I bet a good way to start an argument among Dragaeran social
scientists is to ask if behavior is solely determined by the genes, or
by nurture, or by the environment.  Or by the Cycle.  Or by the Cycle
interacting with genetics.  And if it's all of them, which factor is
most dominant.

I wonder if Steve is following this.  Hey, Steve, any thoughts on
genetic determinism in Dragaerans?  Or genetic determinism in general?