Blueprint
by Robert Plomin · first published 2018
10mentions
1recommended by
8HN commenters
2018–2026first – last mentioned
13% recommend75% neutral13% critical
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I recently read the book "Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are" by Robert Plomin and it it was quite the eye opener as to how much the nature vs nurture debate seems to have been overtaken by genetic findings. According to the book genetics…
on “The genetics of university success” ↗I think it should be renamed "The Dubious Science Behind Trying To Make Smarter Adults" I recently read Blueprint by Robert Plomin. Here is a pretty good summary: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/24/blueprint-by-r... Plomin makes a pretty solid case in Blueprint that it's pretty much down to genetics…
on “The Science Behind Making Your Child Smarter” ↗Relevant to the topic of personality and choice in the article. Robert Plomin in his book Blueprint cites the pretty astonishing finding that the weight of adopted children is pretty much not at all correlated to the weight of the adopted parents, whereas the weight of the birth parents is a strong…
on “Once an Addict, Always an Addict?” ↗…parents never turned the on the TV where he saw tennis and became obsessed with it that he would never have become a tennis champion? His sister is a nurse too, not a tennis champion. Robert Plomin, in Blueprint, makes the case that what our parents and schools do for us pretty much comes out in the wash as we make our way into adulthood and that throughout our lives our individual choices shape our environment…
on “The Science Behind Making Your Child Smarter” ↗Modern behavioral genetic research as described, for example, in Robert Plomin's "Blueprint", seems to make some people uncomfortable. I suppose it could qualify as "heresy" as it challenges a number of widely held beliefs.
on “Novelty and Heresy” ↗It's a review of Plomin's book, Blueprint, including putting it into context with the history of similar works. "Like much of that literature, Blueprint plays fast and loose with the concept of heritability. Sometimes Plomin treats it (correctly)…
on “PG and Jessica” ↗…Originally proposed by Judith Rich Harris in The Nurture Assumption, and promoted by popsci big shots like Matt Ridley and Stephen Pinker, the idea got another push from Robert Plomin in his 2018 book Blueprint. The latest proponent is economist Bryan Caplan on the 80,000 Hours podcast. Their argument is backed by heavyweight research, but simple at heart. I'm just outlining the arguments related to this discussion…
on “It matters how you raise your kids” ↗…outcomes will likely be optimal. Helicopter parenting, cramming, etc, only briefly push up the metrics. (My two are teens.) And that, your hono[u]r is the justification for my parenting style! [1] Blueprint, Robert Plomin, 2018
on “Ask HN: What's your approach to raising kids?” ↗…would have been earlier. It does mean that I'm back at uni while both my kids will be starting at theirs... B^> (Edit: for full disclosure I am not a "helicopter parent" or hugely sentimental, and in Blueprint, Robert Plomin licenses benign neglect to get good outcomes!)
on “Ask HN: Did you have kids later in life, how did it do for you?” ↗…and he has done an excellent job, and amazing science working within the field of Behavioral Genetics expelling and debunking all the racist pseudo-science of the likes of Plomin (see e.g. his review of Blueprint, 2019). If you want to see where the tide is turning though, I do recommend e.g. Jay Jospeph. He recently reviewed Turkheimer’s latest book[1]. He is more attacking Behavioral Genetics as a whole (in…
on “Grok 4.5” ↗