In the Argument, Shenk proposes that every individual has potential but, "very few of us ever get to know our own true potential." According to his equation GxE, the genius within each self is from genetics and the environment, but how can one individual achieve their potential, when they don't know what their potential is? What is the significance of GxE on discovering one's true potential? As Shenk says that Genetics and Environment change the way each of us become who we are, does our potential change also?
Sruthi Merneedi (gangasruthi@gmail.com)
The key to understanding our true potential is to shed the burden of social stigmas placed upon us at a young age such as how well your perform on second grade spelling tests or how fast your can recite multiplication tables as a third grader. Much like being born into a low income family, we cannot allow our fixed mindsets to shine. The kids born into low income families are often branded with a social stigma of failure, tendancies of not graduating from college or even highschool, etc. "But that doesn't mean anyone is *innately* poor or destined to be poor; there is always potential for any poor person to become rich," said Shenk in an online article (http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2009/07/the-truth-about-iq/22260/). Thus, we achieve and reach our potential by never settling for less than extraordinary performance. This is not to say we can never stop and be satisfied with our accomplishments, but rather to understand that our potential is so much greater than we could ever comprehend. If it is really all about how our genes interact with our environments, and we often have the power to alter our environments, then their is really no true way to be limited in potential. David Perlmutter, M.D. said, "Science now tells us that the human brain is unfinished at birth. There's a brief window of opportunity in a child's life when parents can help create a brain that is built for optimal performance" (http://www.enotalone.com/parenting/11553.html). Therefore to achieve our closer to our full potential, we can try to be as cognizant of the things we do as possible such as watch the foods we eat and challenge ourselves daily. Until recently, we did not truly appreciate the relationship between genes and environment- or more specifically, how exactly the environment affects our genes, and therefore IQ. Acknowledging this understanding of GXE is the first step to understanding our truest potential.
ReplyDeleteShenk says that “human talent and intelligence ar not permanently in short supply like fossil fuel, but potentially plentiful like wind power” (Shenk 10). So I agree with Jane that there really is no way to be limited in potential. There are different advantages and disadvantages that Shenk describes throughout the book such as early exposure, time commitment, environmental demands that make certain people “more talented” in some things than others; however, the initial potential is always there. I believe that the first step in understanding one’s potential is to understand one’s fears. Author of Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert spoke at a TED conference and recognized that whenever people want to venture on creativity, there’s this ginormous fear within the individual, as well as within everyone watching, of failure (“Nurturing Creativity”). Gilbert believes that we need to go back to what the Greeks and Romans all believed before the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution, and that is the concept that we all HAVE a genius, and not that some of us ARE geniuses. One of the ways we will come closer to achieving our true potential is in fact by embracing failure, along with support, persistence, and pace (Shenk 136-143).
ReplyDeleteGxE in general reflects the theme of interdependence in nature well because it is partially up to the society and culture of the environment to exploit an individual’s potential. Once it begins, it’s a process and it doesn’t stop as long as the individual continues uncovering new things and as Jane says, never be satisfied by their accomplishments. Playing off of that, one's potential doesn't really change but it adjusts. Once one goal is met, there are others waiting to be fulfilled. This extra step that is continuously being added in itself is "unactualized potential" (Shenk 11). Although not everyone, including Shenk, may agree with those like Gilbert who say everyone has a genius within them, many modern scientists are beginning to see that there is a process that anyone can go through to aspire greatness.
Agnes Kwon (akwon0215@gmail.com)