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With rising public attention given to the Human Genome Project in the early 1990s, there grew an increased belief in genetic determinism. Scholars referred to this widespread belief variously as geneticism, the strong genetic principle, genetic essentialism, genetic fatalism, and the gene myth. Generic determinism was fed minimally by molecular biology but maximally by behavioral genetics and sociobiology. In the classic war between nature and nurture, genetic determinists sided with nature.

The gene myth can be dissected into three subtenets: puppet determinism, promethean determinism, and the commandment against playing God. The first is seemingly fatalistic; DNA defines human beings, and the genes, like a puppeteer, pull the strings that make people dance. The second, promethean determinism, assigns to scientists the task of understanding just how the genes work plus that of developing appropriate technologies based upon this understanding, giving humans control over what nature bequeaths. The third subtenet voices an ethical maxim: Thou shalt not play God. This sub-tenet derives from the Frankenstein fear of the mad scientist who, in trying to take control of the mysterious forces of life, oversteps the invisible boundary intended by nature to contain human pride and lets loose uncontrollable destructive forces.

See also BEHAVIORAL GENETICS; DETERMINISM; DNA; FREEDOM; GENETICS; HUMAN GENOME PROJECT; NATURE VERSUS NURTURE; SOCIOBIOLOGY

TED PETERS