Are skills hereditary?

[RoundEye]

Get ready, another long post ahead.

A little back story here, my grandfather was an inventor that was deep into electronics. He passed away when I was about eleven, so we never had any real deep conversations.

Doing some online research I found some of his patents, which are “Push-pull amplitude modulator” , “Radio transmission and carrier wave modulation”, “Means of radio transmission and reception by means of unidirectional modulation” and something else that has to do with the blinking lights on airplanes.

It’s deep and would take 1000’s of words to explain in detail. But it has to do with FM, AM and sideband transmissions for radio reception and broadcasting. Somehow I picked up on electronics fairly easily. It’s something that my grandfather and I never said one word about to each other. I went to school a couple of years for it, worked on stereos and TV’s for maybe ten years and built some really wild projects in my time.

When I was working on car amplifiers, they where just starting to get bigger and draw more current. Testing one on the bench required paralleling a bunch of car batteries. My boss wouldn’t spring for an industrial power supply so I built one.

Variable voltage from one to twenty-five volts DC, full wave rectified, and an output of about 75 amps before it would trip the breaker in a commercial building. There's much more detail that I'm not even touching on. This thing is brute force all the way. You can weld light gauge metal with it.

I still have it and it works fine.

Now this wasn’t built from a kit. I “invented” it but didn’t patent it. I had to source out all the parts, build the boards, assemble it and do the math calculations, which I hate math by the way.












Now I guess a more in depth question would be, are traits or abilities hereditary in a family? I never was able to speak with my grandfather about electronics, he didn’t teach me any of it. So where did my ability to pick up on it come from?

[Humboldt]

Very cool

Not sure if stuff like that gets passed on or not, but it makes sense it does.

Maybe he passed the interest on to your father and your father to you?

[TonyT]

Very few qualities of an individual are hereditary except those that are entirely genetic, the ones that determine the characteristics of the body. There is actually no scientific evidence that personality traits, diseases or skills are genetic in origin.

There are conditions that are genetic, such as certain physical maladies related to deformations, missing or "sub-standard" genes that result in abnormal physical conditions. Autism and similar are said to be in that group.

The idea of genetic illness and disease is unfounded and has yet to be scientifically proven true. Trillions have been spent researching this, however, the result is still the same, no real evidence that proves the theory.

When it comes to skill and aptitude, it is more likely that one has often been told, "You're just like your grandfather", or similar phrases.

[RoundEye]

You’ll hear someone say “he has his father’s nose”, something physical or “she has her mother’s temperament” which is emotional I guess.

But is knowledge partially hereditary or is it only learned?

My dad knows basic electricity and owned his own business since I was about four up until that damn hurricane hit. But his knowledge and understanding of electronics is no where near mine, and my knowledge is no where near the level of my grandfathers.

[RoundEye]

Tony, I guess aptitude is the word I’m looking for. I realize that my knowledge of electronics came from training, it sure as hell didn’t jump in my head through osmosis from some book.

I’m just wondering if genetics has predisposed me to the skill.

[mountainman]

Both of my grandfathers were/are pilots. There may be something to it!

[RoundEye]

I didn’t realize I opened up the nature vs. nurture can of worms.

It seems that this question has been brought up and studied often before.

[OSULLY]

IMHO you can inherit the potential (in greater or lesser degrees)for developing a skill. Since inheritance is so complex, we may never fully understand it. I think of it as a holographic programing system with a very high number of variables.

[JawZ]

Very few qualities of an individual are hereditary except those that are entirely genetic, the ones that determine the characteristics of the body. There is actually no scientific evidence that personality traits, diseases or skills are genetic in origin.

There are conditions that are genetic, such as certain physical maladies related to deformations, missing or "sub-standard" genes that result in abnormal physical conditions. Autism and similar are said to be in that group.

The idea of genetic illness and disease is unfounded and has yet to be scientifically proven true. Trillions have been spent researching this, however, the result is still the same, no real evidence that proves the theory.

When it comes to skill and aptitude, it is more likely that one has often been told, "You're just like your grandfather", or similar phrases.

We also don't understand what mass is but we know it exists. The key word as you said, is yet...as in yet to be proven. I believe we will come to a definitive conclusion one day regarding genetic inheritance.

[Shinobi]

I think it's possible..

My Father is a great electrician, and also is very great with repairing electronics, engines, carpentry and plumbing. My grandfather was great in wood building, plumbing and mechanics. I also found out recently, thru genealogy, that my great grandfather and my great great grandfather were in the lumber mill then factory business then learned and changed careers as factory pipe fitters (at that time, a "new" job field)

I'm good with troubleshooting and repairing computers and networks as well as putting them together.

And there are people in my family that plays one instrument or another..
I also have found a "great number" of distant relatives that have my same last name, that play modem and classical instruments for a living. I also play several instruments, although I do not play the local club circuits any more..

I think there is "something", in a persons genetic make up.. that passes down skill traits

My 2 cents.

[TonyT]

My grandfather was great at drinking... so much for electrical engineering

Does that mean your grandchildren won't eat lobster? (assuming you reMaine a mainer)

[TonyT]

Tony, I guess aptitude is the word I’m looking for. I realize that my knowledge of electronics came from training, it sure as hell didn’t jump in my head through osmosis from some book.

I’m just wondering if genetics has predisposed me to the skill.

Well...don't discount that you may have picked up that aptitude in a previous life.

A good definition:

Aptitude - A natural or acquired disposition for a particular purpose, or tendency to a particular action or effect; as, oil has an aptitude to burn; men acquire an aptitude to particular vices.

[JawZ]

Well...don't discount that you may have picked up that aptitude in a previous life.

A good definition:

Aptitude - A natural or acquired disposition for a particular purpose, or tendency to a particular action or effect; as, oil has an aptitude to burn; men acquire an aptitude to particular vices.

You know Tony, many will scoff at your post and probably label it quackery. I however, will not.

While I do believe it requires a huge leap of faith to even entertain the thought...I can't discount it.

For some reason, I've always thought, or felt, that each of our brains contains some of the thoughts of our creator, and the thoughts of each transient soul that inhabits each successive body is passed down to the next. But we all have the same thoughts because we all used to be 1.

Of course our origin could be from nothing, but then something had to create us from nothing.

[MissTynker2]

I think I would put something like this more into the left brain/ right brain field, rather than as a hereditary factor, and which one is the most predominant in each individual. The left brain is the logical side, stronger geared for engineering apptitudes, such as the accompliments you speak of here, while the right brain is the creative side. While both sides can be trained and developed...one side is the natural general ruler.

Then there are some like yourself Round Eye, who have a very generous and fortunate portion of both at their disposal ! Enjoy!

[blebs]

Roundeye if it didn't cost so much to ship this receiver to you, I'd gladly test your electrical skills. I got the service manual for it, but it looks to be I need an FM signal generator and oscilloscope to do this.

As for heredity and skills, I think there may be something to it. Don't think it'll ever be a provable point though.

[RoundEye]

blebs, what does your receiver do or not do? Is it analog or digital? I don’t have a FM generator but I have a scope.


As far as skill sets being inheritable it seems to be unknown if they are or not, scientifically speaking. It does seem that we pick up some traits of it from our parents and grandparents, but how much of that is inherited and how much of it is the way we were raised?

If it is inherited how do we stop negative traits? There are some things that mankind could benefit from not passing on to the next generation. A lot of it seems to be the environment in which you were raised, but there seems to be a lot of traits that are not.

I guess we all just need to I.D., target and destroy the negative and do everything we can to promote the positive.

*POP*

See what happens when I try to think? My head explodes.

[TonyT]

Of course our origin could be from nothing, but then something had to create us from nothing

There again, that depends upon the context and the definition of "us".
If you consider that the body is you, then your statement validates.
But what if you are not the body? What if you are "you", the sentient being, who happens to have a mind and who happens to have a body?

Sentience is not something resulted necessarily from evolition alone.

For some reason, I've always thought, or felt, that each of our brains contains some of the thoughts of our creator, and the thoughts of each transient soul that inhabits each successive body is passed down to the next. But we all have the same thoughts because we all used to be 1.

Or perhaps we all at times have the same thoughts because of the things we have agreed upon throughout the millenia.

[ghettoside]

my great-grandfather (paternal) was a tool and die maker, my grandfather (maternal) was a tool and die maker. I'm a tool maker/machinist/cnc programmer.

sure skills are hereditary. So are lots of other things.

[TonyT]

my great-grandfather (paternal) was a tool and die maker, my grandfather (maternal) was a tool and die maker. I'm a tool maker/machinist/cnc programmer.

sure skills are hereditary. So are lots of other things.

Just curious, what programming languages are you adept in? I do html, css, php and some javascript. I've been stumped recently w/ javascript. I need a function that loops through 200 questions in a form. The answers are in radio button groups, yes, maybee, no.

I made a function that will loop through 'em all and spit out an alert onsubmit that displays the first "missed answer" and sets focus to that radio button group. But what I really want is for the loop to detect all unchecked groups and change the background color of the table row of all missed questions.
https://www.speedguide.net/forums/ ... ost2244133

[RoundEye]

I was doing a little more reading on the Nature Vs. Nuture debate. I guess this site has a pretty good explanation of my question.

So, was the way we behave engrained in us before we were born? Or has it developed over time in response to our experiences? Researchers on all sides of the nature vs nurture debate agree that the link between a gene and a behavior is not the same as cause and effect. While a gene may increase the likelihood that you'll behave in a particular way, it does not make people do things. Which means that we still get to choose who we'll be when we grow up.

[TonyT]

Good article.

BTW, the modern notion of genetic personality traits, illnesses, diseases, character traits, skills and deficiencies stems mostly from the work of this ********: Ernst Rudin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_R%C3%BCdin

[downhill]

My grandfather was great at drinking... so much for electrical engineering

One of my grandfathers was a hard rock miner. He prospected on his own for his mines. He had 12 kids.

I've inherited one one of his traits.













Thank the lord for all the birth control methods since the days when he was young.

[downhill]

I've been reading an article in Scientific American about genes and intelligence. This is somewhat related. Although the newest studies can't find the exact genes that might be responsible, it's fairly common knowledge that they must exist and it could very well be a combination.

How do we know that? By studying identical twins who were raised by different families.

[RoundEye]

I talked to my dad some about this, I’d forgotten my grandfather was quite the accomplished opera singer until singer’s node sidelined him. He was also a major player in the development of automatic transmissions and overdrive systems.

Singer? Hell man, I couldn’t carry a note if you put it in a bucket for me.

Going a step further, I looked to Einstein’s children. He had two sons, Hans Albert Einstein went on to become a professor of hydraulic engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. The other son, Eduard Einstein spent a majority of his life in mental institutions due to schizophrenia.

So maybe true genius does border on insanity.