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Debate Score:3
Arguments:4
Total Votes:3
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 Yes (2)
 
 No (1)

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WarrenVidic(4) pic



Can genes record memories and specific neural connections?

Vidic: You're inside the Animus.
 Desmond: Which is...?
 Vidic: It's a projector which renders genetic memories in three dimensions.
 Desmond: Genetic memories? 
Vidic: Seems you'll need a bit of a tutorial. Very well. Let's start simple. What is a memory, Mr. Miles?
 Desmond: It's the... recollection of a past event.
 Vidic: Specific to the individual remembering the event.
 Desmond: Yeah, sure. 
Vidic: What if I told you the human body not only housed an individual's memories, but the memories of his ancestors as well? Genetic memory, if you will. Migration, hibernation, reproduction... How do animals know when and where to go? What to do?
 Desmond: That's just animal instinct.
 Vidic: Now you're arguing semantics, Mr. Miles. Whatever you call it, the fact remains. These creatures hold the knowledge absent the first-hand experience. I've spent the last thirty years trying to understand why.  Our DNA functions as an archive. It contains not only genetic instructions passed down from previous generations, but memories as well. The memories of our ancestors.

Yes

Side Score: 2
VS.

No

Side Score: 1
1 point

You decide ;)

http://uberhumor.com/wp-content/uploads/ 2017/12/sgvg6iqlw5601.jpg

His dad’s index tip was cut off when he was 10, his index is shorter than his pinky.

Side: Yes
1 point

Not even sort of.

There are multiple ways to show that memories cannot be passed on genetically.

How we get our DNA:

We inherit our DNA from our biological parents. We get 23 complete chromosomes (DNA molecules) from dad's sperm, and 23 complete chromosomes from mom's ovum (egg.)

Each parent received these chromosomes from their parents, who got them from their parents, and so on. That means that unless there was a mutation each DNA molecule (chromosome) in each of our cells (including in our gametes (ova or sperm) are all IDENTICAL to the DNA molecules that were in the ova or sperm of whichever great, great grandparents passed them on to our great grandparents, etc..

Each of our ancestors was just a carrier of the genes we inherited.

Regarding women:

Women are born with all their ova (eggs), including all the genes in each ovum. In fact, by the 7th month of pregnancy, all the fetus' chromosomes are in each occocyte (immature ovum.) These occocytes will not complete their development until puberty or after, but their genes will not change.

The DNA a mother passes on to her progeny is the DNA in the egg that was fertilized. That ovum and its DNA are the same as when the mother was a fetus, before she had any experiences or memories.

Regarding men:

Unlike women who have all their ova at birth, men keep making new sperm all their lives. These sperm, each have half the man's DNA. The process starts with spermatagonia, which have all 23 pairs of chromosomes, which make exact copies of themselves (called primary spermatocytes ) through mitosis. Each of these primary spermatocytes divides into two secondary spermatocytes.

Each secondary spermatocyte has only 1 chromosome from each of the 23 pairs. Each of these chromosomes is identical to a chromosome inherited from an ancestor of however are all identical copies of the previous (secondary)spermatocytes.

Regarding genetic mutations:

I start my life with my DNA, and that DNA does not change unless it is changed by a mutation. Mutations are the result of radiation, chemical reactions, or viruses which damage or modify the genes of some particular chromosomes of whatever particular cell these factors affect. Each mutation only affects a particular part of a particular chromosome in a particular cell.

For that mutation to be passed on to future generations, it must be a mutation in an ovum, a spermatogonium, or spermatocyte.

For example, if a mutation happens in a chromosome in an egg, that particular egg has to be fertilized, and the resulting embryo has to come to full term to produce a person whose DNA includes that mutation. This means that the odds of any particular mutation being passed from mother to child are extremely small. The odds are even lower if the mutation happens in a male, because of the astronomical sperm to egg ratio.

Regarding life experiences and DNA:

Memories and learning are changes in the structure of the brain, not the DNA of brain cells. Memories are set in the brain by changes in the physical relationship between neurons that still have their original DNA. The neurons still have the original 46 chromosomes, with their original genes.

Moreover, there is no mechanism for neurons to affect gametes.

Thinking genes can record memories or neural connections is exactly like thinking that when people get tattoos, then their progeny might be born with the same tattoos.

Just as importantly, neurons never reproduce or replace themselves, so there in no opportunity for any mutations/changes in the DNA to be passed on to any cells of any kind.

Side: No
WarrenVidic(4) Disputed
1 point

unless there was a mutation each DNA molecule (chromosome) in each of our cells (including in our gametes (ova or sperm) are all IDENTICAL to the DNA molecules that were in the ova or sperm of whichever great, great grandparents passed them on to our great grandparents, etc..

There are always mutations from generation to generation, every single living thing that is not an exact clone of something else is a mutant.

Are you familiar with epigenetics?

Side: Yes
marcusmoon(576) Clarified
1 point

WV,

There are always mutations from generation to generation, every single living thing that is not an exact clone of something else is a mutant.

Yep, but I was trying to limit the scope of the explanation to why genetic memory recording is fiction.

Getting into losing the uncoded tail of the chromosome, turning cell functions on & off, etc. would have made the explanation even more cumbersome than it already was.

Side: Yes