Genetics & Social Justice: Rawls didn't know about Polygenic Indices
Most human traits have been found to be heritable, going from height, to age at first sexual intercourse, to educational attainment. This "ubiquitous heritability" phenomenon gave rise to a revolution in Social Sciences, among many other fields. Once only focusing on what's "outside", namely the social context, (some) social scientists are now taking a look at what's "inside", namely the DNA.
Are kids of highly educated parents also highly educated because of the better financial resources, or because of the better rewarded genetic endowments, or both? Why should one form of transmission of advantage be more fair than the other? What is it that we consider fair? What is equality in a world in which everyone is born different?
We will try to address these and other questions considering different accounts of Inequality of Opportunity, and discovering the tools currently used in Social Science Genetics to measure genetic differences, namely Polygenic Indices. We will also see results from an empirical application of this framework.
Sonia Petrini is a PhD researcher in Sociology at UNIL, with a background in Data Science and Economics, and a passion for the study of human behavior.
As per usual doors will open at 19:00 and the talk will start at 20:00. Snacks and drinks will be provided but feel free to bring something to share :)
Tentative end date for the talk is 21:00 but most people stay longer!
About Futurarium
Futurarium is a hackerspace dedicated to scientific and creative endeavours and the exploration of connections between art, engineering and science.
We host regular events such as talks, workshops, performances and open discussions. Members of the association get access to Futurarium as a coworking space.
Here are some of our past events: Language Models and the Arrow of Time, Is Intelligence Real?, Show Your True Colors: Sing and Paint!
Join us for our next events! :)