| There are lots of stories, like yours, which seem to indicate that
they can be inherited, but only in the broad sense of the word.
For subtle things like this its very hard to figure out whether
the ability is actually "in the genes". There are similar problems
with figuring out whether things like musical ability is inherited.
The problem is telling the difference between things your mother
taught you (perhaps unconsciously) and what she passed on genetically.
The only way that they can really tell, short of finding the gene
chemically, is by comparing identical twins to fraternal twins.
If the identical twins show the same ability more often than the
fraternal twins, then you've probably got something genetic going
on.
The best that can be said, is that paranormal abilities seem to
have a tendency to run in families, for whatever reasons, but lots
of people with such abilities are not knowingly related to anyone
else who has them.
Topher
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| In a way, I agree with Topher. I _suspect_ there's a genetic tie-in,
but this sometimes devolves into the argument -- "What's more
important, heredity or environment?"
Steve Kallis, Jr.
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| Without the genes, any talent cannot be manifested. _But_ if no
opportunity arises that causes the person to have to/start to exercise
the talent, it will be as if (s)he had not inherited it.
I think this is true for any talent that one may have inherited,
not just psychic ones.
Marcia
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| Morphogenetic patterning can also be a factor, whereby once something
has been learned, descendents learn it more quickly. An example
is skateboarding: it is easier to learn to ride a bike than it is
to learn how to use a skateboard. The proposed reason is that more
people have learned to ride a bike, so our brains have developed
the ability to learn bike riding. The ability to ride a bike is
not inherited, but the ability to learn might be.
Controversial, but interesting.
-Ginny
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