The Genetic Lottery Author: (US) Catherine Page Harden Translator: Lu Dapeng Liaoning People's Publishing House Science New Knowledge Book Weekly Hot List

Only by recognizing inherent inequalities can true social equality be achieved.

Liu Qing and Zhang Xiaoyu wrote the prefaces and recommended the book; Lu Dapeng devoted himself to the translation.

The Economist's Books of 2021.

#Editor's Recommendation#

 Refute the five fallacies of eugenics: Emphasis on genes does not mean the law of the jungle

Myth 1: Everything is genetic and human intervention is useless.

Fallacy 2: People are divided into different classes and genes determine everything.

Fallacy 3: People with inferior genes should be excluded from medical insurance.

Myth 4: Intelligence is innate, and some people are naturally better than others.

Myth 5: People with good genes should get more resources.

 Get rid of the five major misunderstandings and don’t be genetically blind

Myth 1: Ignoring genetic differences wastes resources and slows down scientific progress.

Misconception 2: Pretending to take environmental factors into consideration and mistakenly assuming that everyone has equal opportunities.

Myth 3: Resist the use of genetic information without changing markets and institutions.

Myth 4: Surrendering to meritocracy and ignoring genetic luck.

Myth 5: The misconception that all people are biologically identical.

 Go deep into the frontier of science and discover the five core principles of a good society

Principle 1: Use genetic science to accelerate effective interventions and reduce inequalities.

Principle 2: Use genetic data to maximize the capabilities of each individual.

Principle 3: Use genetic information to ensure better social security for everyone.

Principle 4: Acknowledge genetic luck and don’t mistake good luck for morality.

Principle 5: Social institutions should favor those who are not genetically advantaged.

#Recommendations from all walks of life#

Hadden is waging a two-front campaign, with those on her left assuming that genes don’t matter and those on her right convinced that genes are everything. —The New Yorker

Fascinating and highly readable, Haddon dispels the myth that genes are destiny, that their influence is either 100 percent or nothing, and that anyone who studies genetics is a eugenicist. She makes a persuasive argument that if we understand genes, this can help us work towards a more just society. —Dorothy Bishop

This is a thoughtful, courageous, and fascinating book. Haddon disagrees with the view that genetic differences are a justification for class systems, or with the rejection of research into the impact of genes on social stratification. She argues that we must understand the findings of behavioral genetics if we are to create a more just society. --Peter Singer

The pursuit of egalitarian ideals does not rely on the fact that humans are genetically identical, but it is not unrelated to this fact either. Perhaps because we are similar enough, more and more people no longer regard the misfortunes, sufferings, and injustices caused by genetic differences as natural, and accept them with peace of mind. In this sense, the commitment to the ideal of equality reflects the kindness and compassion of human beings for their fellow human beings. - Liu Qing

Kathryn Page Harden proposed a new direction, which I summarized as "compensatory justice." This means that, first, a society should face up to the inequality based on luck caused by genes; second, a society should give appropriate compensation to those who lose in this random lottery game, so that their inner potential will not be annihilated and they will have more opportunities to achieve success through hard work. - Zhang Xiaoyu

#Introduction#

This book is a popular science book about genetic science. The first part introduces the latest progress in genetic science, especially the results of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and their wide applications, including explaining differences in height and weight, predicting disease and academic success, etc. The second part is dedicated to establishing a new ethical framework for genetics. Combining her own experience as a mother, the author demonstrates why we refuse to acknowledge the power of genes and will continue the myth of elite management, and why we must acknowledge the role of genetic luck if we want to create a fair society.

Kathryn Paige Harden is a behavioral geneticist and professor of clinical psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She leads the school's Developmental Behavioral Genetics Laboratory and co-leads the Texas Twin Project. She has published more than 100 scientific papers on the impact of genetics on complex human behavior. In 2017, she was awarded a national award by the American Psychological Association for her outstanding scientific contributions to the study of genetics and human individual differences.

Lu Dapeng, English-German translator, holds a master's degree in English and American literature from Nanjing University. He has translated 1453: The Battle of Constantinople, Ocean Empire, Lawrence of Arabia, and Plantagenet. He was awarded the 2015 Translator of the Year by Beijing Youth Daily, the 2015 Translator of the Year by Economic Observer Book Review, the 2016 Literary Translation Award by One Way Street Bookstore, and the 2018 China Knowledge Element of the Year by New Weekly.