[fabian2k]

One part that people from the software side tend to underestimate is how fuzzy and analog everything in biology is. Genomics look more predictable and organized at first, but even these parts are quite fuzzy and subject to all kinds of physical effects.

I'd strongly recommend in reading up on the parts of cell biology that come after this. Otherwise you'll get the wrong impression of how messy biology actually is.

[throe9394ir]

And most of genomics is still stuck in 1930ties. Many people believe gender is somehow related to genes, which is objectively not true! Or that genes are somehow related to your religion!

[fabian2k]

Scientists tend to understand that part, that's more of a political/cultural thing (I'm ignoring the language part here entirely about which terms to use for which concepts here).

There's the X and Y chromosomes, those produce a binary result (unless you have a genetic anomaly). And after that comes the messy and fuzzy parts I mentioned, where those genes trigger changes in hormone levels and development. And those parts are analog, very complex and contain a lot of different parts. So the outcome is not binary anymore.

[altruios]

...well actually...

There are more combinations than merely having only X, or an XY combination. And there is more fuzziness even in the Y and X expression, as you said. It's fuzzy all the way down. The tale of Binary results has always been from compression of reality: Always has been.

[grey413]

As it happens, in humans there is a single gene on the Y chromosome, named SRY, that typically switches on male-linked traits.

But you're right, the full range of biological possibilities is very fuzzy . SRY itself a just a regulatory switch that other sex-linked traits are conditionally dependent on. If the switch gets broken, you develop as female. If genes that support the switch break, you might develop as female. If a sex-linked trait downstream from SRY mutates, then pretty much anything can happen. And other species do sex determination completely differently. Hell, a lot of bacterial sex basically involves throwing pseudo-viruses at each other.

[epihelix]

I'd be extremely surprised if either gender or the propensity to believe in religion are 100% nature or 100% nurture - anything related to the mind is a mix of both.

[almostjazz]

Can you point to where these ideas have been confirmed as objectively not true?