Hope and Rejection

Abstract

Chapter 5 examines the remaining two cells in the basic framework: “Hope,” about developing social programs separate from genetic influence, and “Rejection,” emphasizing the hubris of both genetic science and social programming. For each viewpoint, this chapter explores arenas within medical and scientific research (including environmental causes of and cures for disease, and personal choice), criminal justice (including predictive models, epigenetics, and environmental or personal causes), and biogeographical DNA testing (largely rejected except through traditional genealogy in both cells). Chapter 5 provides evidence to support both hope about understanding causes of individual or societal problems and policy interventions to solve them, and the conviction that policy interventions will be a waste of time or actually harmful.