Genetic Memory?

[Mike in Cumbria]

"I can't answer how it may work but memories are neuropathways in the brain.  These pathways involve literal paths of neurones and release of neurotransmitters."

Well, sure, but so what?  The question is, how could some idea in a brain change the genetic code of a germ cell?  What would be the physical mechanism that would impart, let's say, a fondness for the name Emily into the DNA?

It's the Emily gene, silly.

[ThrelfallYorky]

Don't know about inheriting things like interest in Gypsy life ( which was where we started) but some talents and skills must have an inherited factor. My mother had ability , pre-war, in Art, and started Art School until the War intervened. My grandfather on the paternal side did many murals in posh ballrooms and hotels, as part of a family business ... so I must've inherited the genes for Design from both sides. There were also a couple of full-time Artists dotted around on both sides a lot further back...
But nuture - my mother - meant that as a small child Art materials and help were available, so it's not surprising that I ended up, despite being "good at" many other areas, doing a Design based career.
Probably those very genes ensured I was observant, and had good colour vision and great motor control and manual dexterity, and helped my development in Design based studies, rather more than that I was channeling the early 19th C Artists in our family background!

[mazi]

We are looking at this from the wrong angle, if we can pass on physical characteristics from one generation to another, if we can pass on purely intellectual gifts like artistry or mathematics, then it is only logical to assume that memories also can be passed on from one generation to the next

Maybe someone should prove that we cannot, rather than seek to explain why we can

Mike

[Erato]

"only logical to assume that memories also can be passed on from one generation to the next"

Of course memories are passed from generation to generation.  The mechanism for their transmission is the spoken and written word.

[Mike in Cumbria]

Maybe someone should prove that we cannot, rather than seek to explain why we can

Mike

That's not how science works.

[Daisypetal]

It's the Emily gene, silly.

 

[mazi]

Maybe someone should prove that we cannot, rather than seek to explain why we can

Mike

That's not how science works.

I assume then that a pure maths degree means I am not a scientist

Mike

[Mike in Cumbria]

Maybe someone should prove that we cannot, rather than seek to explain why we can

Mike

That's not how science works.

I assume then that a pure maths degree means I am not a scientismike

I assume it means you're a mathematician.  Which reminds me of a joke that you may have heard before.

Q.  How do you tell the difference between a mathematician, a scientist and an engineer?

A.  Ask them what 2 plus 2 is.   
The mathematician will say, without hesitation, "Four"
The scientist will say "All the evidence points toward it being four"
The engineer will say "Let's call it six to be on the safe side"

[PaulineJ]

I think you need a statistician for that "proof", not a mathematician.

However if you were to ask a mathematician what 2+2 is, (going by my daughter's degree work) it would take 3 pages of proofs, and at least 20 minutes.

I personally don't believe that "memories" are genetically inheritable.