Why it’s harder to change nurture than nature

Culture wars: Science gave us Covid-19 vaccines but cultural differences have anti-vaccine protestors demonstrating against them. — Bloomberg

ONE reason for our relentless “culture wars” and anxieties about “cancel culture” might be our misguided sense of what culture is – and how easily we can change it.

We used to frame everything in terms of “nature versus nurture”. Either something was hardwired and biological – such as intelligence or athletic ability – or it was cultural. The implications were always pretty clear: If anything isn’t natural, it must be merely cultural.