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Comment by lettergram | Hacker News Reader

I think it’s really detecting who has more connections in a given region.

That being said, I was born with a condition which leaves the sections of my brain loosely coupled. Usually this leads to dyslexia, schizophrenia, retardation, etc.

Luckily, the mutation that runs in my family is not the kind that lowers your IQ (it increases it, with a ~30% schizophrenia chance).

Because of that, I assume this scan would detect me having low skills. When I’m reality I’ve always excelled (as has my whole family). My only symptom is I don’t read linearly (kinda bounce all over the page).

I hope this doesn’t become a thing, else it’s kind of like judging job fitness based on genetic markers (I.e. race)

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I think people tend to set up a false dichotomy between absolutely no genetic knowledge whatsoever and full on Gattaca. Basketball is a good example here. The desired genetic expression is quite visible in that game, and indeed most basketball players are quite tall. Yet on the other hand there have also been professional 5'3" players. Genetic information can tell you that, all other things being equal, one person is probably going to be more capable at some task than another person. But in reality it's never the case that all other things are equal, and so genetic expression is just yet another component that can ideally simply help create a more accurate profile of who you might be hiring.

On the other hand there is one very paradoxical risk. Consider fields where people work to marginalize the magnitude or relevance of inherent differences between people. Imagine you're hiring for a basketball team and think people are mostly about equal and any differences can be made up with training and effort. What are you going to do? Simply hire all the tallest people! And the same would be true in any field where individual exceptionalism is not emphasized. It's quite a peculiar notion that focusing on 'blank slate' equality would be what would lead to Gattaca, but I can find no flaws in the logic.

> I hope this doesn’t become a thing

It's useful in that it's another way to find companies you don't want to work for. The whiteboard interview being another signal.

How'd you learn that you have this condition?

That is extremely fascinating. Do you have any insight and/or speculations on why looser networked neurons end up benefiting you rather than harming in your particular case?

No, it detected activity in the motor cortex for surgions performing fine motor skills tasks

Could you tell me something more specific? I have a high IQ but my grandma had schizophrenia. My cousin has some other mental problems and dyslexia. I wonder if my offspring would have elevated chance of mental illness.

I took a genetics test- it was very clear my brother and mother have it. Me to a lesser degree

Did they name this mutation/condition? Something I could google to find out what kind of genetics test should I do.

Interesting. What specific mutation/SNP[s] is it?

Very curious about this as well!

I'm traveling and can't pull up my genetics test, it's a marker that impacts the corpus collusum and makes it very weakly connected. This leads to the increased risk of several diseases, and a likely increased IQ. It's passed down in the X chromosome. For us it was identified in brain scans, then I got everyone to take genetics tests which confirmed.

From there, I'm guessing you can maybe find something on Google. It's an active area that's still being explored too. From ancedotal evidence we do have schizophrenia run in the family, and we also regularly break 130 on IQ tests - so take it for what you will

Thank you! It may be of interest to lots of people here in HN (and elsewhere) with similar phenotypic profiles; so if you ever have a chance, please post more details if you don't mind! It could benefit a lot of people.

which condition are you referring to?

This is not a substitute for diversity jobs.

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