imdjdan (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

At first, when I read "The age old argument of Nature VS Nurture. Personally, I vote for Nuture," I thought you were making a joke by combining the two words to make "neuter." ;)

rockindanceteacher (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Its a classic power struggle, IMO. Each branch wants to be the "big dog". Kinda like when little kids fight over the same toy. Looks like you are the toy. Sorry bout that!

MaryKTyler (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Wow! I haven't thought about that, but it kind of makes sense. What if my mother had married Jay Vector? And who exactly wanted her to marry Jay, the Organization or the Service? After what happened to Lawrence McEntyre, I'm thinking they're not always on the same page.

rockindanceteacher (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

This whole revelation has gotten me thinking about the "bigger picture". I'm wondering if this gene aberration is what makes you such a threat to the Organization. I mean, is this what they wanted from Beatrice's offspring? Or is this what has them so frightened? I mean, if they had controlled her better and had chosen your father themselves, would things have turned out differently genetically? Does that make sense or am I just confusing things more?

MaryKTyler (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Yes, something like that, Ziola. What I'm saying is that only specific genes seem to be ignored in the replication process but not all (or I would be dead, btw). The question now is what genes and why?

rockindanceteacher (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

So based on your outward appearance, I guess we could say that her gene doesn't affect those genes from your father, right? Ugh. I wish I had paid more attention in science class in school.

MaryKTyler (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

I haven't read much sci-fi, but what I can say is that what James described to me, I haven't seen in any textbooks of biology. The point is that the blocking process seems to affect only parts of the DNA that are genes. It would be difficult to identify what the specific functions of those genes are. I'm certainly not a clone of my mother. Actually, I don't really look like her. Sure I have blond hair and blues eyes, but I have more common physical traits with my father.

rockindanceteacher (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Good. I think genetics only go so far when it comes to "making" a person who they are. I do find this interesting though. What I'm wondering is if eventually your mothers gene would completely "win" this little game its playing and you would become almost an exact genetic replica of her...or am I reading too many sci fi novels lately?

Virginian9000 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

The annotations were funny.

MaryKTyler (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

You got it correctly imdjdan. As for why they called it the evil gene? Well my father and James came up with that name. Considering that my father's genes are the victims here, that makes sense I guess.