But we do know the net effects of sex on developing an interest in programming, namely that there is a negative correlation between being female and having said

But we do know the net effects of sex on developing an interest in programming, namely that there is a negative correlation between being female and having said interest. The question is what comprises this effect and how much of it is nature as opposed to nurture. Basically, it depends on if you approach it from a hollistic perspective (where the effect of sex is the compound of physical capability and social influences and whatever else) or a narrow perspective (how does the Y chromosome influence analytical capability). In the wide perspective, the answer is clear - there are indeed differences in how males and females process their environment (https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:9JNbJB0PhGEJ:www.psychonomic.org/pubmed/mc/mc-28-1333.pdf+&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgFSyi1DnQg9j6kxkrUb6lbPKD5fvxs36ZnjD0E-1RN0UBjv02kFAMtTHn-1vhvtQf-6RLiFaDnzG_IN1-DXvluSGS1FeqiA5s1iqioqGi_Xf26V9tV2SUBLH7lcQqR6Q5jpUR_&sig=AHIEtbR147MxK545fxbBoj6r6h0RH94WYg&pli=1 https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:9JNbJB0PhGEJ:...). In the narrow perspective, it may never be clear for environment influences genetic expression (http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/environmental-influences-on-gene-expression-536 http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/environmental-influ...). In other words, it's possible that the genetics expressed in a human are themselves socially influenced. Or, for a bigger picture, an individual having a Y chromosome is treated differently by their environment which in turn results in a different genetic expression and, by extension, different preferences and capabilities. Or to put it yet another way, nature influences nuture which, in turn, influences nature. It's a feedback loop. Also see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_psychology#Intelligence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_psychology#Intelligence To summarise the above link, there is greater variation in adult men's intelligence and they are over-represented at the tail end as well as having a higher average intelligence. So we do indeed know where both Paris and London are at this point, we just don't know enough about geology to guess how they got there.