This interview is an episode from The Well, our new publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the John Templeton Foundation.

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Watch Kathryn Paige Harden's next interview ► Nature vs. nurture, explained by a geneticist https://youtu.be/KqZp33DGDkQ

Conceiving a child is like playing the lottery. Given any two parents, there are 70 trillion possible genetic combinations that any one of their children could inherit.

This genetic diversity can make siblings really different from one another, for instance, in terms of their education, income, and lifespan.

Any attempt to study or address inequality in society must consider the impact of genetic inequality.

Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/the-well/genetic-lottery/

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About Kathryn Paige Harden:
Dr. Kathryn Paige Harden is a tenured professor in the Department of Psychology at UT, where she leads the Developmental Behavior Genetics lab and co-directs the Texas Twin Project. She is the author of The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality (Princeton). Dr. Harden received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Virginia and completed her clinical internship at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

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► https://bigthink.com/the-well/atheism...
System 1 vs. System 2 thinking: Why it isn’t strategic to always be rational
► https://bigthink.com/the-well/system-...

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About The Well
Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds.

So what do they think?

How is the power of science advancing understanding? How are philosophers and theologians tackling these fascinating questions?

Let’s dive into The Well.

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