Where you end up is a complex mixture of nature vs. nuture. True Steve Jobs had some very real inherited traits from his biological parents but his “adoptive parents” give him the freedom to explore his interests and electronics.

His biological parents wanted him to be adopted by college graduates with the stiputlation that he went to college. He could have grown up in a restrictive academic household that wouldn’t understand his entrepeneurial spriit. Case in point, his sister grew up with his biological parents and she’s a writer. Steve Jobs grew up with adoptive parents and became a maverick and entrepeneur. Those are two very different types of professions.

Genetics is part of it, but trying to figure out how much of it contributes to life successes is very difficult, if not impossible. Had Jobs grew up in a poor family his path in life would have been completely different. When you look at successful Silicon Valley millioniares they tend to cluster around certain age groups and come from upper-middle class homes where they were afforded the priviledge of education and access to technologies.

Charles Manson, a career criminal, has a son who has a clean record and is remarkably well-adjusted. He may have the potential for criminality, but his upbringing and experiences prevented it from happening.

A child may be born that has the “genetics” to be a great violinist, but if he never comes into contact with a violin, he will never fulfill his gift.

Have you considered you might have the majority of your expressed genes from an uncle or a grandparent? It is more common than you think. People who get lost on the road of “but I’m not like my parents” fail to consider this.

Have you considered you might have the majority of your expressed genes from an uncle or a grandparent? It is more common than you think. People who get lost on the road of “but I’m not like my parents” fail to consider this.

Consider some of the bizarre results of studies involving identical twins separated at birth and raised by different adoptive families, then later reunited as adults.

Case in point — James Springer and James Lewis, who shared the following traits:

* Both had married twice. Their first wife was named Linda and their second wife was named Betty.
* both named their sons – James Allen.
* both enrolled as Police Officers at the same time.
* both named their dogs “Troy.”
* both vacationed each year on the same stretch of beach in Florida.
* both drank the same brand of beer and smoked the same brand of cigarettes.
* both had the same hobby, which was woodworking.

Then you look at other sets of identical twins, raised by their biological parents in the same home, and you see startling differences. There are at least two cases of identical twins where one twin is happy with the biological sex but the other feels that he/she was meant to be the opposite sex and then goes through a sex change.

What’s so puzzling is that trivial things like naming seem to be genetically passed on, whereas something as integral as gender orientation appears to be flexible.

Consider some of the bizarre results of studies involving identical twins separated at birth and raised by different adoptive families, then later reunited as adults.

Case in point — James Springer and James Lewis, who shared the following traits:

* Both had married twice. Their first wife was named Linda and their second wife was named Betty.
* both named their sons – James Allen.
* both enrolled as Police Officers at the same time.
* both named their dogs “Troy.”
* both vacationed each year on the same stretch of beach in Florida.
* both drank the same brand of beer and smoked the same brand of cigarettes.
* both had the same hobby, which was woodworking.

Then you look at other sets of identical twins, raised by their biological parents in the same home, and you see startling differences. There are at least two cases of identical twins where one twin is happy with the biological sex but the other feels that he/she was meant to be the opposite sex and then goes through a sex change.

What’s so puzzling is that trivial things like naming seem to be genetically passed on, whereas something as integral as gender orientation appears to be flexible.