a different world

[ljgeoff]

Mike and I were talking about that Oppositional Defiant Disorder thing. I was doing some more research, and there's a major gene variant -- the gene is called DRD2, and in this study of alcoholics, about 78% of alcoholics studied were missing the "A" allele. It's a lot more complex (the DRD2, DRD3 and DRD4 and stress on the individual) than just this one gene, but we humans are pretty bright and we'll figure it out. These are all dopamine receptor genes, here's a good overview of the studies,and different variables lead to a higher probability of not only alcoholism, but multiple drug abuse, smoking, gambling, ADHD, ODD, depression, Parkinson's, panic attacks, and obesity and Tourette's.

But, as Mike kept stressing, what's the other side of the coin?

Skydiving, exploring, jumping in head first, taking risks, thinking outside the box, and boldly going where no one has gone before.

Ah, what's a species to do?