James Dewey Watson - Genes Quotes

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The thought that some people are innately wicked disturbs me. But science is not here to make us feel good. It is to answer questions in the service of knowledge and greater understanding.
In finding out the extent to which genes influence moral behaviour, we shall also be able to understand how genes influence intellectual capacities.

James Dewey Watson
Since 1978, when a pail of water was dumped over my Harvard friend E O Wilson for saying that genes influence human behaviour, the assault against human behavioural genetics by wishful thinking has remained vigorous.
But irrationality must soon recede. It will soon be possible to read individual genetic messages at costs which will not bankrupt our health systems. In so doing, I hope we see whether changes in DNA sequence, not environmental influences, result in behaviour differences. Finally, we should be able to establish the relative importance of nature as opposed to nurture.

James Dewey Watson
I turned against the left wing because they don't like genetics, because genetics implies that sometimes in life we fail because we have bad genes. They want all failure in life to be due to the evil system.

James Dewey Watson
No one may have the guts to say this, but if we could make better human beings by knowing how to add genes, why shouldn't we?

James Dewey Watson
Let's put it this way: I wouldn't buy gene-splicing stock for my grandmother.

James Dewey Watson
We used to think our fate was in our stars. Now we know, in large measure, our fate is in our genes.

James Dewey Watson