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I happen to be an identical twin, with a sibling born a few minutes after myself. While we are quite similar through facial features and such, we have quite dif

I happen to be an identical twin, with a sibling born a few minutes after myself. While we are quite similar through facial features and such, we have quite different personalities, skills, even things like allergies and sexualities which one would expect to be more biological in origin. We’ve been involved in a few studies regarding these differences but the results are yet to be published as the sample is populated. If you are a twin, I’d encourage you to get involved in research like that if you have the time.

deleted 6y ago
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buzzert 6y ago
I too am an identical twin, and it's actually quite the opposite for us. My brother has nearly the same personality, skills, and medical ailments. In my experience from meeting other identical twins in high school, you're either basically the same or polar opposites. There's rarely a set of twins that are in-between (although perhaps one could say the differences in the polar opposite twins become less pronounced with age).
- Guest42 6y ago
  My grandma and her identical twin had very similar personalities, skills, interests, and life choices. Even their voices were very similar.
throwaway2048 6y ago
Are you genetically tested to be identical twins? Sometimes fraternal twins look so similar they think they are identical, but they aren't.
- floitsch 6y ago
  This is pretty rare. Almost all test of twins that are in doubt are identical. Don't have a source right now but I remember because we wondered if we should take a test as well. In retrospect (now 40+ years old and still looking very similar) it's hard to understand why we every doubted.
danieltillett 6y ago
I assume you know about mirror twins [0]. Do you and your sibling happen to have opposite dominant hands? 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin#Semi-identical_twins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin#Semi-identical_twins
- PebblesHD 6y ago
  An interesting question, no, we both have right dominant hands. Interesting article too, thanks for that one.
anonunivgrad 6y ago
“I was born this way” is no longer the thinking w/r/t homosexuality. It was a short-lasting trope actually, probably more political than scientific in origin. Modern theories leave some room for genetics but nothing like what the public came to believe back in the 2000s and early 2010s.
- teagoat 6y ago
  Source?
- simonh 6y ago
  There’s a lot more to being born a certain way than genetics though. For example the pseudorandom way neuronal cell interconnections are initially established. The dynamics of the way cells divide and specialise and how organ structures form in an embryo is a long way from being predictable or well understood in terms of the variation it might introduce.
  - andromeduck 6y ago
    Yeah even gamete epigenetics is not particularly explored at this point outside of plants and a handful of tiny organisms.
- beerandt 6y ago
  It's certainly not the same argument it was, but there are still quite a few theories that involve genetics, epigenetics, or familial gene competition. For instance, that certain gene combinations that may present advantages for not the individual, but the individuals mother, grandparents, or other family members.
thaumasiotes 6y ago
> even things like allergies and sexualities which one would expect to be more biological in origin. It doesn't seem to be well-known, but concordance for homosexuality in identical twins is very low (if memory serves, around 40%) compared to concordance for virtually anything else you can measure. This is pretty unsurprising looking at the biological fundamentals -- a quick naive approach would be to predict "genes will never code for homosexuality, because it is such a crippling failure for the organism" -- but it does tend to undermine the idea that homosexuality is biological in origin.
- selestify 6y ago
  Just because something isn’t 100% determined by genetics doesn’t mean genetics doesn’t play a heavy role still. A concordance of 40% is still really high compared to random chance by sampling from the general population, so it arguably supports biological causes for homosexuality.
  - vagrantJin 6y ago
    How? If we dont have evidence for it should we just conclude that it exists because our maths does not say it doesn't. Lets make witchcraft a part of medicine then. A statistically significant part of the human population belives in it. Lets get that into a 4 semester course in a 6 year medical degree.
  - thaumasiotes 6y ago
    But we can see that the role of genetics is miniscule compared to its role in any other trait, since identical twin concordance for homosexuality is so low compared to concordance for anything else. Genetics affects everything including the environmental influences you are subject to. But your genes are trying as hard as they can to ensure you are heterosexual.
- creata 6y ago
  Sorry, I've only taken statistics 101. What's "concordance" in this context?

deleted 6y ago

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buzzert 6y ago

I too am an identical twin, and it's actually quite the opposite for us. My brother has nearly the same personality, skills, and medical ailments. In my experience from meeting other identical twins in high school, you're either basically the same or polar opposites. There's rarely a set of twins that are in-between (although perhaps one could say the differences in the polar opposite twins become less pronounced with age).

Guest42 6y ago
My grandma and her identical twin had very similar personalities, skills, interests, and life choices. Even their voices were very similar.

throwaway2048 6y ago

Are you genetically tested to be identical twins? Sometimes fraternal twins look so similar they think they are identical, but they aren't.

floitsch 6y ago
This is pretty rare. Almost all test of twins that are in doubt are identical. Don't have a source right now but I remember because we wondered if we should take a test as well. In retrospect (now 40+ years old and still looking very similar) it's hard to understand why we every doubted.

danieltillett 6y ago

I assume you know about mirror twins [0]. Do you and your sibling happen to have opposite dominant hands? 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin#Semi-identical_twins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin#Semi-identical_twins

PebblesHD 6y ago
An interesting question, no, we both have right dominant hands. Interesting article too, thanks for that one.

anonunivgrad 6y ago

“I was born this way” is no longer the thinking w/r/t homosexuality. It was a short-lasting trope actually, probably more political than scientific in origin. Modern theories leave some room for genetics but nothing like what the public came to believe back in the 2000s and early 2010s.

teagoat 6y ago
Source?
simonh 6y ago
There’s a lot more to being born a certain way than genetics though. For example the pseudorandom way neuronal cell interconnections are initially established. The dynamics of the way cells divide and specialise and how organ structures form in an embryo is a long way from being predictable or well understood in terms of the variation it might introduce.
- andromeduck 6y ago
  Yeah even gamete epigenetics is not particularly explored at this point outside of plants and a handful of tiny organisms.
beerandt 6y ago
It's certainly not the same argument it was, but there are still quite a few theories that involve genetics, epigenetics, or familial gene competition. For instance, that certain gene combinations that may present advantages for not the individual, but the individuals mother, grandparents, or other family members.

thaumasiotes 6y ago

> even things like allergies and sexualities which one would expect to be more biological in origin. It doesn't seem to be well-known, but concordance for homosexuality in identical twins is very low (if memory serves, around 40%) compared to concordance for virtually anything else you can measure. This is pretty unsurprising looking at the biological fundamentals -- a quick naive approach would be to predict "genes will never code for homosexuality, because it is such a crippling failure for the organism" -- but it does tend to undermine the idea that homosexuality is biological in origin.

selestify 6y ago
Just because something isn’t 100% determined by genetics doesn’t mean genetics doesn’t play a heavy role still. A concordance of 40% is still really high compared to random chance by sampling from the general population, so it arguably supports biological causes for homosexuality.
- vagrantJin 6y ago
  How? If we dont have evidence for it should we just conclude that it exists because our maths does not say it doesn't. Lets make witchcraft a part of medicine then. A statistically significant part of the human population belives in it. Lets get that into a 4 semester course in a 6 year medical degree.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago
  But we can see that the role of genetics is miniscule compared to its role in any other trait, since identical twin concordance for homosexuality is so low compared to concordance for anything else. Genetics affects everything including the environmental influences you are subject to. But your genes are trying as hard as they can to ensure you are heterosexual.
creata 6y ago
Sorry, I've only taken statistics 101. What's "concordance" in this context?