- Big Q: Are all people created equal?
- Big Q: Is art getting better or worse?
- Big Q: Are books dead?
- Big Q: Why are 43 percent of Americans barely able to read?
- Big Q: Who's better at communicating -- men or women?
- Big Q: Are there any modern mummies?
- Big Q: Is texting the end of talking?
- Big Q: Is privacy a dying concept or the next battleground?
- Big Q: Is the Internet making us sicker?
- Big Q: What makes a good citizen?
- Big Q: Is race a social construct?
- Big Q: Can love actually kill you?
- Big Q: Should we force a cap on the U.S. population?
- Big Q: Do prisons create more criminals?
- Big Q: If the 1 percent had less, would the 99 percent really have more?
- Big Q: Are humans meant to be monogamous?
- Big Q: Can humanity counteract the damage it's done to Earth?
- Big Q: Is global warming real?
- Big Q: Is healthy food a right or a privilege?
- Big Q: What is Gender?
- Big Q: Is there a "gay gene"?
- Big Q: Are rich people smarter?
- Big Q: If you saw someone being mugged would you stop to help?
- Big Q: Can music make you smarter?
- Big Q: What role does creativity have in business?
- Big Q: Should your health be public information?
- Big Q: Can prayer heal cancer?
- Big Q: Is there life before birth?
- Big Q: Is racism hereditary? (Is there a racist gene?)
- Big Q: Would the world be different if we all looked alike?
- Big Q: Are we inherently evil?
- Big Q: Is it better to confess a lie or keep it secret?
- Big Q: Will the world end in 2012?
- Big Q: What's the first thing you'd say to an alien?
- Big Q: Is there a sixth sense?
- Big Q: Is God evil?
- Big Q: Should fast food be outlawed?
- Big Q: Why is depression becoming more common?
- Big Q: Will surgeons be replaced by robots?
- Big Q: Can we arrest aging by destroying certain cells in our bodies?
- Big Q: Is any place in the U.S. safe from Mother Nature?
- Big Q: Does the Mayan calendar predict our doom -- will the world end in December 2012?
- Big Q: Did the Mayans use multiple calendars?
- Big Q: Why did the Mayans use a 260-day calendar?
- Big Q: Will humans still look the same 10,000 years from now?
- Big Q: Can the brain solve problems while the body sleeps?
- Big Q: What impact does ocean acidification have on undersea life?
- Big Q: Would we age differently on another planet?
- Big Q: Are near death experiences just hallucinations?
- Big Q: Is fashion empowering?
- Big Q: Can playing games make us smarter?
- Big Q: Could a hacker take down the Internet?
- Big Q: Do animals have a sense of right and wrong?
- Big Q: Do clothes really make the man (or woman)?
- Big Q: Does having children make us happier?
- Big Q: Does monogamy make us happier?
- Big Q: Does quantum foam hold the keys to time travel?
- Big Q: Does the Internet make travel irrelevant?
- Big Q: Does the modern prison system work?
- Big Q: Have credit cards made us poor?
- Big Q: How does science fiction predict the future?
- Big Q: How has the Internet changed politics?
- Big Q: How is globalization changing culture?
- Big Q: Is marriage dead?
- Big Q: Is taxation stealing?
- Big Q: Is the "American Dream" really possible?
- Big Q: Is the U.S. Constitution out of date?
- Big Q: Is there an ideal form of government?
- Big Q: Is your personal information the new currency?
- Big Q: What are the odds of surviving a plane crash?
- Big Q: What does 'free speech' really mean?
- Big Q: What does it take to explore the Mariana Trench?
- Big Q: What is fashion?
- Big Q: What is the future of the book?
- Big Q: What is the future of travel?
- Big Q: Why are humans competitive?
- Big Q: Why does fashion change?
- Big Q: Why does health care in the United States cost so much?
- Big Q: How much longer will we use paper currency?
- Big Q: Is technology killing our ability to practice patience?
- Big Q: Who is the world's most powerful person?
- Big Q: Does good grammar still matter?
- Big Q: Is Internet access a right or a privilege?
- Big Q: Are we getting dumber?
Big Question: Are all people created equal?
Curiosity contributor Susan Sherwood held this question up to genetic and environmental scrutiny and here's what she found.
In the U.S. Declaration of Independence, the founding fathers said it was "…self-evident, that all men are created equal." They were trying to make a political point, but were they accurate? The phrase used was, "created equal" -- not "considered equal." When it comes right down to it, regardless of the descriptor you use: Economically, socially, physically, intellectually, politically -- do we all start out on a level playing field? Are we, from the start, essentially the same?
Of course we're not. We’re talking genetics here, the most basic start for every human. Even identical twins, who, genetically, are the most closely linked of all people, have differences. Contrary to popular belief, they often don’t even have identical DNA, even though they came from the same fertilized egg [source: Scientific American]. They do not share the same fingerprints, and it is not uncommon for one twin to develop a disorder, such as Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia or obesity, while the other does not. If identical twins are not always created equal, how can people, in general, be assumed to have equivalent early starts?
Environment also comes into play, because that can affect mental and physical health, even before birth. For example, a UCLA study examined the impact of air pollution on fetal development and found that high maternal exposure to environmental toxins can result in brain, respiratory and digestive problems. So if a mom lives in a smoggy city while pregnant, her baby might have difficulties that wouldn’t have arisen if she'd carried her child as a country dweller.
Nature doesn’t make anything the same: from snowflakes, to fingerprints to zebra stripes. Add environmental influences, and that assures humans will vary in intelligence, health, personality and abilities. So are people actually created unequal? Absolutely. You might even say it’s "self-evident."
Most Watched
First Video of a Giant...
16,109 views
Looking for the Giant ...
7,923 views
Discovering the Giant ...
7,124 views
N. Myhrvold: Science &...
6,198 views
Major Environmental Is...
4,862 views
Comments ( )