Critique of heritability estimates: How redefining the concept inflates life span heritability figures
By
surprisetalk
The kind of bagel that ruins lesser bagels for you.
Summary
This article critically examines the concept of heritability in human life span, arguing that the commonly cited figure of 50% heritability is misleading. The author redefines heritability in a way that excludes environmental influences, epigenetic factors, and randomness, then shows how this redefinition artificially inflates the heritability estimate. The piece uses the example of hair color heritability to illustrate how definitions and assumptions can dramatically change scientific conclusions. It serves as a critique of how heritability statistics are communicated and interpreted in scientific literature and popular media.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledSay I redefine 'hair color' to mean 'hair color except ignoring epigenetic and embryonic stuff and pretending that no one ever goes gray or dyes their hair et cetera'.
How heritable is hair color? Well, if you're a redhead and you have an identical twin, they will definitely also be a redhead.
The correct answer is, some large number, but less than 100%.
ratios will be ratios
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