Quote Originally Posted by wh33t View Post
It's now understood that during your childhood and up until you are an adult a humans genetics are almost like an open book. In other words your genes take in environmental stimulus. If your genes are receiving information that the world is harsh, unfriendly and scarce then your genetics bond in a way that will allow you to survive in such a hostile world. Let's just take a guess at how Scratches genes have formed.
As a point of clarification. A person's DNA/genes/genetic code is essentially fixed from conception; it is NOT an open book waiting to be formed from some environmental stimilus. What I think you are bringing up is the whole debate over Nature vs. Nurture. Are someone's actions and behaviour the result of some genetic predisposition from birth or are they a result of their upbringing and environment? Following your dog analogy, could a dog be overly agressive because they belong to a certain breed with a genetic predisposition toward agresssion or was it raised in such a way that resulted in this agressive behavior? Both factors can influence who we are and how we behave, but they are not the same thing.

While I agree that the environment that Scratch grew up in and the events in her past most definitely had a hand in the person she has become, her environment growing up did not alter her on a genetic level.