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sapinker's profile
Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Verified account
@sapinker

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Steven PinkerVerified account

@sapinker

Cognitive scientist at Harvard.

Boston, MA
pinker.wjh.harvard.edu
Joined January 2010

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    Steven Pinker‏Verified account @sapinker 20 Dec 2016

    Contra blank-slaters on the right, sexual orientation is determined prenatally, not by parenting or recruitment.https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/beware-bogus-theories-of-sexual-orientation/?wt.mc=SA_Twitter-Share …

    11:36 AM - 20 Dec 2016
    • 268 Retweets
    • 443 Likes
    • ice9 Kopala Midwestern Dad A .T. Nong Efe Erünal Oğuz Kaan Üremiş Azeema F. V. Advocatus Diaboli Cole Kinson
    48 replies 268 retweets 443 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Kevin Mitchell‏ @WiringTheBrain 20 Dec 2016
        Replying to @sapinker

        .@sapinker @sciam Yes, sexual orientation only partly heritable but likely entirely innate (like handedness)

        1 reply 4 retweets 12 likes
      3. JayMan‏ @JayMan471 20 Dec 2016
        Replying to @WiringTheBrain

        .@WiringTheBrain Probably not (homosexuality likely pathogenic, at least for men) http://www.unz.com/jman/greg-cochrans-gay-germ-hypothesis-an-exercise-in-the-power-of-germs/ … @sapinker @sciam

        5 replies 2 retweets 7 likes
      4. Kevin Mitchell‏ @WiringTheBrain 21 Dec 2016
        Replying to @JayMan471

        .@JayMan471 @sapinker Just because conditions that are selected against persist does NOT => high-risk genetic variants persist. They recur.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      5. JayMan‏ @JayMan471 21 Dec 2016
        Replying to @WiringTheBrain

        .@WiringTheBrain Not at 3-5% prevalence, no. Most genetic load syndromes top out at 1%. @sapinker

        2 replies 0 retweets 4 likes
      6. Kevin Mitchell‏ @WiringTheBrain 21 Dec 2016
        Replying to @JayMan471

        .@JayMan471 @sapinker Evidence for partial heritability of sexual orientation is strong and consistent http://www.wiringthebrain.com/2014/03/gay-genes-yeah-but-no-well-kind-of-but.html …

        2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      7. JayMan‏ @JayMan471 21 Dec 2016
        Replying to @WiringTheBrain

        .@WiringTheBrain Heritability of male homosexuality is not zero, but it's quite low (0.22). Co-twin of gay twin usually straight. @sapinker

        2 replies 1 retweet 6 likes
      8. Kevin Mitchell‏ @WiringTheBrain 21 Dec 2016
        Replying to @JayMan471

        .@JayMan471 @sapinker Yes, so it's partly genetic. (And I'd say partly developmental). And no reason (like, at all) to invoke a pathogen!

        2 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      9. JayMan‏ @JayMan471 21 Dec 2016
        Replying to @WiringTheBrain

        .@WiringTheBrain Plenty of reason to invoke a pathogen. Developmental noise doesn't make sense: https://westhunt.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/homosexuality-epigenetics-and-zebras/ … @sapinker

        0 replies 1 retweet 4 likes
      10. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. David Deutsch‏ @DavidDeutschOxf 20 Dec 2016
        Replying to @sapinker

        .@sapinker Data can't 'determine' this without an explanatory theory. Especially of how the determining force overcomes human universality.

        4 replies 0 retweets 20 likes
      3. The Crooked Man‏ @TheCrookedMan 20 Dec 2016
        Replying to @DavidDeutschOxf @sapinker

        Isn't this just about development of biological hardware that creates sensory experience of hunger, thirst, lust?

        1 reply 1 retweet 2 likes
      4. Michael Golding‏ @mgoldingmd 20 Dec 2016
        Replying to @TheCrookedMan @DavidDeutschOxf @sapinker

        Yes. And human universality could allow you to change. (But might take 1000 years.)

        1 reply 1 retweet 1 like
      5. David Deutsch‏ @DavidDeutschOxf 20 Dec 2016
        Replying to @mgoldingmd

        .@mgoldingmd @TheCrookedMan @sapinker Maybe—though it must depend on what knowledge is available—but the *data* are silent on that issue too

        2 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
      6. Craig Labenz‏ @craig_labenz 21 Dec 2016
        Replying to @DavidDeutschOxf @mgoldingmd @TheCrookedMan

        Is the claim here that human universality allows individuals to choose sexual orientation?

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      7. David Deutsch‏ @DavidDeutschOxf 21 Dec 2016
        Replying to @craig_labenz

        .@craig_labenz @mgoldingmd @TheCrookedMan Well, it's that nothing inborn prevents such a change. Like 'choosing' to have faith in Zeus.

        6 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
      8. Craig Labenz‏ @craig_labenz 21 Dec 2016
        Replying to @DavidDeutschOxf @mgoldingmd @TheCrookedMan

        This seems *very* counter to my own personal experience, and the reported experiences of others.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      9. Craig Labenz‏ @craig_labenz 21 Dec 2016
        Replying to @craig_labenz @DavidDeutschOxf and

        In theory, yes, I could run off w the mailman tomorrow, but I can't seem to make myself want to.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      10. 3 more replies
      1. Conceptual Femme Phallique‏ @Auto_Math 20 Dec 2016
        Replying to @sapinker

        unfortunately in Europe, a lot of blankslaters are on the left too.

        0 replies 1 retweet 2 likes
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      1. New conversation
      2. Nine-Banded Books‏ @NineBandedBooks 20 Dec 2016
        Replying to @sapinker

        .@sapinker & post-natal does not equal "social" in context. I wish Hamer & Bailey would address the pathogenic hypo, if only to debunk.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      3. Steven P Moore‏ @m00semuss 20 Dec 2016
        Replying to @NineBandedBooks @sapinker

        Bisexuality as practiced in Ancient Greece Rome and Afghanistan today is genetic? How so?

        2 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      4. Nine-Banded Books‏ @NineBandedBooks 20 Dec 2016
        Replying to @m00semuss @sapinker

        Important to keep in mind that prenatal/biological doesn't necessarily mean genetic.

        1 reply 1 retweet 1 like
      5. Steven P Moore‏ @m00semuss 20 Dec 2016
        Replying to @NineBandedBooks @sapinker

        Then the mother is at fault? Seriously, seems to me myriad factors are going to be involved.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      6. Nine-Banded Books‏ @NineBandedBooks 20 Dec 2016
        Replying to @m00semuss @sapinker

        There's little evidence for parental/maternal influence. Divorce rates would have tracked, for one thing.

        1 reply 1 retweet 1 like
      7. Steven P Moore‏ @m00semuss 20 Dec 2016
        Replying to @NineBandedBooks @sapinker

        No, I mean if sexuality is fixed and innate, then it must be prenatal: meaning, (a) genes, (b) mother.

        2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      8. Nine-Banded Books‏ @NineBandedBooks 20 Dec 2016
        Replying to @m00semuss @sapinker

        Biological doesn't necessarily mean innate. Pathogenic transmission could occur later.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      9. Steven P Moore‏ @m00semuss 20 Dec 2016
        Replying to @NineBandedBooks @sapinker

        Whoa, are you suggesting that the mother could pick up a "gay germ" while cleaning the cat box?

        2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      10. 2 more replies

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