Why Your Genes Don't Excuse You (But They Explain Everything)

The uncomfortable truth about talent, money, and why some people just "have it" — and what science says you can actually change about yourself

"Your son will probably become a philosopher" — this phrase from my elementary school teacher was sarcastic, emphasizing my restlessness, dreaminess, and persistent questions that irritated the instructor — a classic post-Soviet woman with a ban on thinking and depth.

In adulthood, I've been fortunate to have a wife and several friends who equally love diving deep and asking questions where the answer won't be simple.

Spoiler: I didn't become a philosopher but ended up in design and tech. There, despite the high cognitive abilities of the average IT company employee, people by their natural inclination can be professionals in narrow fields but have no interest in thinking beyond that space.

The Success Trap

And that's fine, isn't it? But the problem is that if you're successful at one thing — writing code, managing projects — and receive substantial compensation for your work, it's very easy to fall into the halo effect trap. Success in one area creates an illusion of competence in all others.

Then there's the Peter Principle: people rise to the level of their incompetence. Not always, but often enough to become a systemic problem in modern organizations.

From childhood, you can see people's inclinations: some toward technical sciences, others toward creativity, still others toward sports. But something has made this world painful in a competitive economy where it's so easy to do what allows you to "earn your bread" while being deeply unhappy in your soul.

Money as Foundation

💰 Do money make you happier?

Yes. And it's not "but," it's "because."

Daniel Kahneman from Princeton proved: income up to $75,000/year significantly increases feelings of happiness¹. But in 2021, Matt Killingsworth from Wharton showed: happiness grows even after this threshold, just not as quickly².

In 2023, they joined forces and discovered: for unhappy people, the plateau does exist around $75,000, but for the rest — happiness continues to grow³.

What's also important is not just the size of income, but how it looks relative to your environment. Relative well-being matters too.

What comes after money?

🥇 Social connections. Not in the sense of "love everywhere," but having people who won't betray you. It doesn't have to be many people. But they must be real.

🥈 Meaning. Even if you're successful — sooner or later the question "what for?" arises. If there's no answer — burnout is inevitable.

🥉 Physical fitness. Energy is life's currency.

Because let's face it — happiness begins where you can afford to think about more than just survival.

The Myth of the Blank Slate

Historically, people either had no choice in what to do, or their activity was a family affair. The last hundred years of history have given us considerable freedom of choice, but along with it — the burden of responsibility for our own unhappiness.

There's this charming idea — Tabula Rasa. The blank slate. Supposedly, we're born empty, and only the world around us slowly begins to write our reactions, thoughts, and personality on this slate.

When I first heard this theory, it seemed almost therapeutic to me. Everything in you now — it's not you, but just random traces of upbringing. Therefore — you can erase and rewrite. Sounds pleasant, right?

Modern science says something completely different. We are not a "blank sheet." Neurobiology has shown: the brain has default settings. It learns to recognize language without tutors, and masters social gestures even in the womb.

Studies of twins separated at birth show: many personality traits, intelligence, and even predispositions have a significant genetic component⁴. We are not simply "victims of social construction."

Determinism Without Fatalism

So is there really complete freedom to "become anyone"? There is space, there are boundaries, there is a starting point. And honestly — that's not so bad. Your strengths are not a coincidence, but a gift. And your weaknesses are not a sentence, but a zone of caution.

But does this determinism remove responsibility? Can someone then say: "I'm a born criminal, liar, traitor, rapist"?

Genetic predispositions are probabilities, not verdicts. A tendency toward aggression doesn't mean inevitable criminality. We have a choice in how to work with our nature — develop or restrain, amplify or compensate.

Determinism doesn't cancel responsibility — it explains why some find it easier and others harder.

Understanding your own nature is not an excuse, but a tool. A tool for building a life that accounts for your strengths, compensates for weaknesses, and allows you to find balance between what you can do, what you want, and what the world is willing to pay for.

We already have several generations of people who are lost and don't know what to rely on in a society where guidelines are becoming fewer, and whoever shouts loudest gets heard. But is the blank slate as an idea medicine or a painkiller?

Perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle — between fatalistic "that's how it turned out" and naive "you can become anyone." Perhaps wisdom lies in working with what you have, not fighting your own nature, but partnering with it.

But why is the idea of the "blank slate" so sweet and appealing?

Maybe because it promises the ultimate freedom from consequence, from inheritance, from the weight of being human. It whispers that we can escape not just our circumstances, but ourselves. That we can be architects of our own essence, not just our actions.

But perhaps true freedom isn't in denying what we are, but in choosing what to do with it.

---

References

1. Kahneman, D., & Deaton, A. (2010). High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(38), 16489-16493.

2. Killingsworth, M. A. (2021). Experienced well-being rises with income, even above $75,000 per year. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(4), e2016976118.

3. Killingsworth, M. A., Kahneman, D., & Mellers, B. (2023). Income and emotional well-being: A conflict resolved. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(10), e2208661120.

4. Bouchard, T. J., & McGue, M. (2003). Genetic and environmental influences on human psychological differences. Journal of Neurobiology, 54(1), 4-45.