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Genetic Glitch May Prevent Kids From Learning From Their Mistakes
jamie pointed out an interesting piece being featured in Newsweek that claims a "genetic glitch" may prevent some kids from learning from their mistakes to the same degree as others. "If there is one thing experts on child development agree on, it is that kids learn best when they are allowed to make mistakes and feel the consequences. So Mom and Dad hold back as their toddler tries again and again to cram a round peg into a square hole. [...] But not, it seems, all kids. In about 30 percent, the coils of their DNA carry a glitch, one that leaves their brains with few dopamine receptors, molecules that act as docking ports for one of the neurochemicals that carry our thoughts and emotions. A paucity of dopamine receptors is linked to an inability to avoid self-destructive behavior such as illicit drug use. But the effects spill beyond such extremes. Children with the genetic variant are unable to learn from mistakes. No matter how many tests they blow by partying the night before, the lesson just doesn't sink in."
Self destructive behaviour ?
It seems to be widely accepted that each animal has only a certain number of heartbeats, when that number is up - they die.
So going to the gym, cycling to work and having sex all shorten your life more than not doing those things. Similarly, joining the military, freefall parachuting and mountaineering all can be shown to reduce your lifespan.
So certain kinds of self destructive behaviour are seen as acceptable, but others are not. I think it's time to choose one way or another and get on with it, instead of persecuting those whose choice differs from yours.
To get back on topic, I think that the reason kids are failing to learn from their mistakes is because there are no real consequences to that failure. No-one is "forced" to do anything and there is a medical explanation for everything. Hardly the incubation method for people with a strong sense of self reliance and responsibility.
To use the military as an example, how many people have been thrown out of the army for having ADD ? How often do you see recruits on drill practice standing looking at a PDA, or wandering off to play with something shiny ? And if you don't, why ?
how is this interesting and not flamebait ;-)
just wondering, but how are republicans running the US into the ground? I mean honestly, republican pushed through policies. I in fact, did not vote for Bush because he is an evangelical candidate, not a republican (kind of like most NE democrats wouldn't vote for a blue dog democrat) but when people feel like blaming all the country's problems on the particular party in power, I'd like to know what they are talking about.
and obviously, I'd wonder how do those particular situations differ compared to say, clinton's presidency.
Yeah, Slashdot's "moderation" system is so easily gamed that an army of rightwing trollMods routinely suppress plenty of my posts, and surely lots of others. A tiny minority can manipulate the discourse so the majority of people can't communicate facts to each other, no matter how well cited or argued. Which is of course perfect Republican territory.
But there's so much truth against them now that some gets through. They're fighting a losing battle, and digging their hole to discredibility hell deeper, instead of finding a new game. So I think enough people are getting the message, despite a "lost generation" of hopeless hardcore rightwingers who won't quit until we pry their keyboards from their cold, dead hands.
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make install -not war