If genetics determines us so much, why self-help?

[StaraX]

Seriously. If your genetics determine so much about you in all areas of life, why do we have self-help? If so little can be done, why are there so many fake promises? Back in 2014, Leo used to be against this victim mentality and didn't believe so much in genetic determinism. It happened in the past 5–6 years, when he turned into this "it's-all-genetics" type of guy. If genetics determines us, why is it called Actualized.org? Shouldn't it be "itsallgenetics.org"?

[LordFall]

That's a false dichotomy. 

For example I'm an INTP and I think in systems so business theory makes a lot of sense to me. I also am low industriousness so I'm not the best at grinding all day consistently. Others will have different strengths and weaknesses, doesn't mean your genetics make up your destiny fully. It's about self-awareness and understanding the world. If you're born with dwarfism then of course your genetics have determined your destiny to be an athlete but you can become a billionaire business person fuck it. 

I know this cool little person club promoter in Montreal who seems like he's doing well and co-owns some clubs here and he seems like he's having a hella fun time. 

https://www.instagram.com/mass_min

Clearly he learned some social dynamics and business leverage and figured it out. Other guys will cry about their height and how they can't get better at dating because of it. 

Edited 10 hours ago by LordFall

[Adrian colby]

Yes genetics plays a huge role but that’s the body and its emergent identity that is also influenced by the environment in which it develops. Genetics are information packets that instruct the body to form in various different ways and there are so many developmental factors at play, no one gene can be used as a determining factor for the specific outcome of a human for or trait so by themselves, genes are not definitive or deterministic. Think of a seed. A seed is not a tree. It contains a pile of information we see as the potential for a tree but so many factors outside the seed influence and interact with it as it develops.  the information in the seed is potential only and not actualisation. Any biological organism is an ongoing ‘process’ not a fixed and immutable object ( even though for the sake of coherence and continuity, it maintains a recogniseable and closely repeatable form. The stager I g jumbees oc factors involved and their varying degrees of interactions means there’s an infinity of variation and you never get an identical instance repeating) 

consciiusness creates forms and interacting forms creates patterns. Patterns interact with other patterns and end up creating increasing complexity. At some stage a complex pattern will hold itself together in a state of coherence long enough that a sense of self or identity will emerge from that point of view. Consciousness is then able to experience and express through that point. The identity or self is a mechanism that distinguishes a boundary and holds itself together in a coherent autonomous pattern. That’s what we call life and it emerges out of distinctions made by consciousness or the organising principle known as mind ( like a baby with no thoughts, language etc it is like pure existence simply engrossed in its own experience in the present moment) as time goes on it becomes conditioned by everything around it. Some of that conditioning is vital to its survival ( the continuation of the pattern over time) and some of the conditioning comes out of a conceptual map derived from its ability to use complex language, distracting it away from its direct experience and trapping it in a conceptual matrix or socially constructed environment. That’s what we environment creates adversity from which it can struggle and grow.

while everything is consciousness dreaming up all these scenarios, the body and the appearance of its material forms and mechanisms have an inherently emergent identity or sense of self. Consciousness experiencing from this point of view can become lost in this sense of self so much that it can create levels and depths of self deception so convincing, it gets stuck and apathetical. 
 

as a species evolves so too does its ability to transcend immediate survival and with it starts to spend time self reflecting to the point it’s able to reference and analyse itself from a first, second , third, fourth person perspective etc. developing higher levels of individual and cultural cognitive development.

 

a person who has genetic variations that differ drastically from a mainstream probability curve or give it other abilities are more likely to notice its culture as a conditioned construct and start to step outside of it and begin a deconstructive process of returning to direct experience with reality which may or may not end up as a dissolution of reality altogether and an awakening of consciousness from its dream of a human experience. 
 

we know identity is based in the brains default mode network as that is what is suppressed during psychedelic journeys and why we experience ‘no self’ in these altered states so it’s not too much of a leap to understand that self and identity ard inherently emergent of the bodies neurological development where consciousness which is not a thing and has no ‘self’ simply experiences and expresses through it. 
 

we recognise this in states of meditation when we attempt to suppress the senses so nothing is left but ‘awareness’ or ‘consciousness’.

 

going through the process of untangling identities conditioning can allow consciousness to express through it more authentically. 
 

genes maybe the symbolic representation of the universal minds organising principle for creating nuanced distinctions. All are finite, some changeable, some not so much but in a world of vastly numberous interactive systems, they are not primarily deterministic

[Natasha Tori Maru]

Genetics load the gun, environment pulls the trigger.

Genetics don't determine everything. Your environment & personal habits have a huge impact.

Epigenetics is a very real and well studied field. 

It does no good to be so fatalistic.