Gambling, Binge Eating, Genetic Determination and Choice

Q. I spend a little time at the craps table -- won ...yesterday. Have lost many times also. But hunches show up in consciousness as the dice are flying around. I test them regularly. Not all are valid -- I sense things that don't happen... But other times I get a sense that is equally strong and dead on.

G. Ah yes, gambling (stock market or otherwise) and determinism; you undoubtedly know the huge genetic component (deterministic) to risk tolerance, gambling, reward gratification, etc. Whether or not one gambles, how risky the bets are that one is comfortable with, how comfortable one is with loss, etc. has been often demonstrated to be tied to which genes are expressed.

Q. Thanks for the reminder about genetic influence. Certainly also true of alcoholism. It brings into question the behavior of those who have a genetic marker but do not exhibit the trait -- did they have another marker or two for "restraint." Or did they just "resist" the impulses. And the nurture argument is not dead -- family of origin influences are part of the labyrinth.

And is the "urge" for binge eating or compulsive gambling from genetics and not "the universe?"

G. Indeed, agree on family of origin, environment, where and when born, etc. in addition to "core" DNA with which we are born being key factors. It is in most of my talks now...

The emerging field of "epigenetics" (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Epigenetics#Evolution), which deals with how the DNA "expresses" and "manifests" itself may be a/the scientific next-step in the "genetics" causation argument and your questions about restraint. "Family of origin" appears to have a lot to do with expression epigenetically.

IMHO, "genetics/epigenetics/'environment'" is "the Universe" insofar as all that really matters, pragmatically, is whether you have control of who and what you have become/are, and if can control your world. If you aren't in control of your genetics, or your epigenetics, when and where you were born, who your family was, and your environment, and how you have been modified through all of that (without your conscious intervention and construction) into a vehicle through which the "dance" occurs, then the rest of the argument over control by "you" has little meaning.

The "intuitive sense at the table" arises in consciousness out of your control, unexpectedly, from an unknown source.