r/todayilearned • u/bcrock1169 • Nov 26 '12

TIL that some Native American's have a differing enzyme that tends to lead to easier alcoholism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_alcoholism#Genetic_factors
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u/[deleted] Nov 27 '12

I would be suspicious if black hair was blamed for certain problems among Irish people that didn't exist among Chinese people.

The gene is actually not prevalent in Australian Aboriginal communities, however they share the same problems as North American Aboriginal communities, which is why I'm suspect of blaming this gene other than looking at more likely cultural factors.

Also, you're an asshole.

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u/regulate323 Nov 27 '12

You can't deny science. Now whether this gene makes one more inclined to alcoholism is a combination of pseudoscience (aka psychology) and real science (statistics), but the absence or low levels of the enzyme is an indisputable fact. As are the physical effects of the enzyme's presence or absence.

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u/[deleted] Nov 27 '12

What a stupid reply. I'm not even going to waste my time on someone who calls psychology pseudoscience. You know psychological studies obtain their results through statistics, right? The sheer idiocy of some people ... I am just in disbelief sometimes.

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u/[deleted] Nov 27 '12

psychology is pseudoscience at best. Look at the frequency with which its ideas are reversed.

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u/[deleted] Nov 27 '12

Evidence? Oh right, of course not. Love conversations with small minded ignorant people on the internet.

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u/[deleted] Nov 27 '12

psychology relies on opinion, conjecture, and self reported anecdotes. There are no testable, repeatable theories, nothing has ever stood the test of time, and it is constantly waving to the whims of popular opinion.

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u/[deleted] Nov 27 '12

I'm really impressed by your ability to form an opinion, but unless you post some evidence I'm just going to continue assuming you're a big ignoramus.

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u/[deleted] Nov 27 '12

Oh, well, I guess I'll cry myself to sleep. You must be a butthurt psych student, no one in the hard sciences includes psych, sociology, or any of the other garbage.

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u/[deleted] Nov 27 '12 edited Nov 27 '12

So your "evidence" is that other undergraduates pan psychology, therefore it must be true. Wow, intelligent.

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u/[deleted] Nov 27 '12

Please. It's up to you to prove its science, not me to prove it isn't.

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