Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/11/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Thu, 30 November 2000, "Alan Hull" wrote: > > Everybody has a natural born ability for something and it is my > understanding that these abilities are contained in a genetic code that > determines behaviour and ability and physical characteristics. It is > also my understanding that this genetic code is hereditry Alan, Having 2 daughters raised in similar environments but having significantly different genetic code I'll agree that individuals may have inherited natural-born abilities, and in isolated populations it is possible that a set of natural abilities may be prevalent at the expense of others. At the same time there are cultural differences that can explain why there are few Brazilians (for example) who excel at American Football and relatively few US citizens who are known for their skill at what we in the US know as Soccer. At the top engineering universities in the US (my frame of reference) there are students and professors from a very large number of nations and (from appearances) an equally large number of genetic groups. These individuals are fully qualified to teach or study at these universities. Within my professional field which includes several branches of engineering I have associates who are natives of England, China, Korea, Canada, Kenya, Egypt, Russia, Australia and possibly a few other nations. There are also many US citizens whose ancestors are Italian, Portugese, German, Irish and Dutch. From a personal point of view I'm delighted to have close association with all these people for the richness that the various cultural backgrounds bring to the office. Professionally it's their work that matters, and no genetic background or gender stands out. In fact when the natives of other nations are asked why they moved to the US, they all reply, without exception, that the infrastructure and the political, economic and cultural climate in their native countries limited the expression of their engineering abilities. Based on these obervations, reinforced by the performance of my (on-topic) Portugese-made Leica R4sP, I have no reservations about purchasing and using Leica equipment made in Portual, Canada, Germany, or Japan. Doug Herr Birdman of Sacramento http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/telyt - -------------------------------------------------- Stay in touch with Northwestern and the world. Click http://www.nualumni.com to get your FREE Northwestern StartPage. Customize your own collection of the latest news, sports, stock quotes, and more. Check it out today!