Humans are fascinated by the source of their failings and virtues. This preoccupationinevitably leads to an old debate: whether nature or nurture noulds us more. A revolution ingenetics has poised this as a moderm politicalquestion about the character of our society: ifpersonalities are hard-wired into our genes, what can governments do to help us? It feels morallyquestionable,yet claims of genetic selection by irntelligence are making headlines.

This is down to“ hereditciart”(遗传论的) science and a recent paper claimed“differencesin exam performance between pupils attending selectve and non-selective schools mirror thegenetic differences between thern". With such an assertion, the work was predictably greeted by alot of absurd claims about "genetics determiring acadernic succesd". What the research revealedwas the rather less surprising resul: the educational beneits of selective schools largely dkisappearonce pupils’ inborn ability and socio-economic background were taken into account. It is aglhrrpse of the blindingly obvious-and there's nothing to back strongly either a hereditary orenvironmental argunent.

Yet the paper does say children are“uninatertionally genetically selecte by the schoo1system. Central to hereditarian science is a tall clairm. that identifiable variations in geneticsequences can predict an irndividal's aptness to lean， reason and solve problems. This isproblematic on many levels. A teacher could not seriously tel a parent their child has a lowgenetic tendency to study when external factors clearly exist.Untike-minded academics say theinheritability of human traits is scientifically unsound At best there is a weak statisticalassociation and not a causal link between DNA and intelligence. Yet sophisticated statistics areused to create an intimidatory atmosphere of scientific certainty.

While there's an undoubted genetic basis to individual difference, it is wrong to think thatsocially defined groups can be genetically accounted for.The fixation on genes as destiny is surelyfalse too. Medical predictability can rarely be based on DNA alone, the environment matters too.Something as complex as irntellect is likely to be affected by many factors beyond genes. Ifheredtarians want to advance their cause it will require more balanced interpretation and not justacts of advocacy.

Genetic selection is a way of exerting influence over others, "the ulimate collective controlof human destinies, "as writer H.G.wells put it.Knowledge becomes power and power requires asense ofresponsibility. In understanding cognitive ability，we must not elevate discrimination to ascience: allowing people to clrmb the ladder of life only as far as their cells might suggest. Thiswill need a more sceptical eye on the science.As technology progresses,we all have a duty to makesure that we shape a future that we would want to find ourselves in.