Ouch. Why is Neil deGrasse Tyson doing this to himself?
If you have a gene for celibacy, you didn’t inherit it.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 12, 2016
No, that’s not right, for multiple reasons.
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Celibacy is a behavior that almost certainly isn’t genetic in the first place. It’s more of a choice, strongly shaped by culture.
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Traits that are deleterious to reproduction can get transmitted easily if they’re recessive.
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You can get pregnant even if you don’t enjoy sex, and even if you are firmly committed to never having sex. Has he never heard of rape?
But really, the biggest problem here is that he’s echoing a pernicious fallacy that’s used to demonize all kinds of behavior. Haven’t you ever heard a wingnut complain that homosexuality is unnatural and can’t possibly have a genetic basis, because gays can’t reproduce? It’s the same argument. And it’s wrong.
Jeremy Yoder has torn that one apart in depth.
It’s getting weird. Tyson just keeps throwing out science canards — which is something a science popularizer shouldn’t do.