Genetics, corn, and free will

Geneticist Richard Lewontin made one of the best arguments for the importance of environment in human development by pointing out that if you take genetically identical handfuls of seed corn and plant one handful in Iowa and the other in the Sahara, you will get radically different results—healthy, abundant corn growing vs. no corn at all. The implication for humans is clear: environment matters and genetic determinism is incorrect. But what Lewontin didn’t consider that is every bit as telling, is that you can take humans who are genetically the same or close to it (siblings) and “plant” them in the same environment and get radically different outcomes. That doesn’t happen with corn or any other organism. The divergences of outcome among humans who share genetics that we don’t see in other organisms is powerful evidence for the essential, but invisible human trait—free will.