I may be completely wrong about this but here goes:
I can imagine some sort of genetic bias for some sorts of activity.
Perhaps someone's cerebellum is wired so as to provide them with great
desxterity and I might even go so far as to say some people are
genetically predisposed to allow them to perceive tones and the like
more acutely than others (hence those with "perfect pitch"). But I
don't think that I would postulate this bias as a guiding force
throughout one's life. The brain comes out of the box hardwired to
learn and acquire many things. Chomskyites even claim (with good
reason) that language
is served by a dedicated language center. But one's disposition,
career choice, etc are probably largely subject to environment. True,
children of musicians are very often musicians themselves. But I
would warrant that this correlation is largely due to parental
pressure and being exposed to music much more frequently than most.
My girlfriend is a theatre major, her Dad is a theatre professor.
Coincidence? I don't think so, but
I'd have to be extremely drunk to grant that she may have a "theatre"
gene. Bear in mind, that these are only my opinions and I could be very
wrong.
Brad Wyble
bradw at cs.brandeis.edu
