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Comment by akomtu | Hacker News Reader

In Scandinavia and New Zealand people are different.

This is true. Their success in life is generally valued by their governments.

In terms of realised outcome, maybe. In terms of potential, though, the only difference between a Kiwi baby and an American baby is the fact v that the American baby is expected to fend for itself.

Genetics is one thing, but there are also environmental differences we don't even know of. One example is lead banned in 70s for its neurological effects. Water in Scandinavia may contain 0.1% less zinc than in SF and that makes a big difference on some neuron properties that we don't know much about.

Higher levels of lithium in drinking water seem to reduce rates of depression and suicide.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-...

The difference -- besides any genetic factors -- is thousands of years of religious, historical, and cultural differences.

And, this not being Brave New World, the baby will be subject to them.

Thousands of years? Get a grip. The US and New Zealand were only colonized by Europeans within the last few hundred years, and all three countries have generally similar cultural/religious backgrounds.

There's one very important difference, though.

Religions and culture indeed date back thousands of years.

And while the US and NZ we both colonized by Europe (primarily Britain), the latter has a much stronger dose of native and non-European heritage...to an extent such that Maori is actually an official language.

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