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article from the Wall Street Journal : SCIENTISTS ISOLATE “MASTER” GENE

    A Genetic Basis for Controlling Other People?

    TOULOUSE, FRANCE—A team of French biologists have isolated the gene that drives certain people to attempt to control others. Geneticists at the Biochemical Institute of Toulouse University, headed by Dr. Michel Narcejac-Boileau, announced the discovery at a press conference today. “The gene,” Dr. Narcejac-Boileau said, “is associated with social dominance and strong control over other people. We have isolated it in sports leaders, CEOs, and heads of state. We believe the gene is found in all dictators throughout history.”

    Dr. Narcejac-Boileau explained that while the strong form of the gene produced dictators, the milder heterozygous form produced a “moderate, quasi-totalitarian urge” to tell other people how to run their lives, generally for their own good or for their own safety.

    “Significantly, on psychological testing, individuals with the mild form will express the view that other people need their insights, and are unable to manage their own lives without their guidance. This form of the gene exists among politicians, policy advocates, religious fundamentalists, and celebrities. The belief complex is manifested by a strong feeling of certainty, coupled with a powerful sense of entitlement—and a carefully nurtured sense of resentment toward those who don’t listen to them.”

    At the same time, he urged caution in interpreting the results. “Many people who are driven to control others merely want everybody to be the same as they are. They can’t tolerate difference.”

    This explained the team’s paradoxical finding that individuals with the mild form of the gene were also the most tolerant of authoritarian environments with strict and invasive social rules.
    “Our study shows that the gene produces not only a bossy person, but also a person willing to be bossed. They have a distinct attraction to totalitarian states.” He noted that these people are especially responsive to fashions of all kinds, and suppress opinions and preferences not shared by their group.

    Josh said, “‘Especially responsive to fashions’…Is this a joke?”

    “No, they’re serious. It’s marketing,” Tom Weller said. “Today everything is marketing. Read the rest.”

    Although the French team stopped short of claiming that the mild form of the master gene represented a genetic disease—an “addiction to belonging,” as Narcejac-Boileau phrased it—
    they nevertheless suggested that evolutionary pressures were moving the human race toward ever-greater conformity.

    “Unbelievable,” Josh said. “These guys in Toulouse hold a press conference and the whole world runs their story about the ‘master gene’? Have they published in a journal anywhere?”

    “Nope, they just held a press conference. No publication, and no mention of publication.”

    “What’s next, the slave gene? Looks like crap to me,” Josh said. He glanced at his watch.

    “You mean, we hope it’s crap.”

    “Yeah, that’s what I mean. We hope it’s crap. Because it gets in the way of what BioGen’s announcing, that’s for sure.”

    “You think Diehl will delay the announcement?” Tom Weller asked.

    “Maybe. But Diehl doesn’t like waiting. And he’s been nervous ever since he got back from Vegas.”

    Josh tugged on his rubber gloves, put on safety goggles and his paper face-mask, then picked up the six-inch-long compressed-air cylinder, and screwed on the vial of retrovirus. The whole apparatus was the size of a cigar tube. Next, he fitted a tiny plastic cone on top of that, pushing it in place with his thumb. “Grab your PDA.”

    And they pushed through the swinging door, into the animal quarters.

    The strong, slightly sweet odor of the rats was a familiar smell. There were five or six hundred rats here, all neatly labeled in cages stacked six feet high, on both sides of an aisle