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Reincarnation or DNA Memory?

So this isn't really just science, it is a mix of science and philosophy.
Recently I read that there is a scientific theory that our DNA may hold familial memory. If this is accurate then it would make sense that someone may have a memory that they were a run away slave in the 1800's and then think it was themself in a previous reincarnation when the actuality is that they did have an ancestor with that history.
So question is DNA, reincarnation, or could be either?

AmelieMatisse 8 Apr 25
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23 comments

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6

I think that DNA memory is A lot different than neural memory. DNA memory is about improving physical adaptability over long periods of time - over generations. Neural memory is anout navigating daily obstacles. Kind of like weather tells us what cloths to wear and climate tells us what to buy. DNA doesn't Remember The details of being a run away slave, but it will remember what physical adaptations were required to survive.

Cheri Level 5 Apr 25, 2018

DNA memory directly affects neural structure through sperm ! not totally but in form. recently proven. New research area.

@Nickbeee it affects neural structure, not in an episodic memory way, more like how stress causes autism and schizophrenia to be expressed more significantly. Hell, I can't remember everything that's happened in my life! Why would I remember something that happened to my dad before I was conceived?

4

It is already proven in one sense!!! DNA

[extremetech.com]

[bbc.com]

[nature.com]

Not familial memory in the sense of your Nan's dress ..

Trauma memory ... So if there was a really bad experience for you last generation that phobia or trauma can be passed through Sperm and becomes DNA and affects your neural structure in the next generation !!

So it is very real ! Just not in a pictorial sense 🙂

Wow, and you provided links. Thanks

@AmelieMatisse Of course matey always .. I am anal as fek lol 😛

Information is golden

3

Interesting question, and some of the comments have been enlightening. I personally highly doubt the possibility of reincarnation,while DNA memory seems at least plausible. Isn't our understanding of DNA still in it's infancy?

Agreed

3

I respectfully disagree with you.

  1. tests of a fairly large population of subjects indicated fear reactions to either spiders, or snakes, rarely, but occasionally both. Ancestry DNA tests of the same population of test subjects showed 2 distinct groups which correlated with the "fear" results.
  2. Continuing research indicates DNA is much more complex than previously thought, with a third type of structure recently identified. So, we've got RNA, DNA, and now a third helix structure containing information.

It's passed through sperm!

3

Interesting question. Humans apparently do have some form of genetic memory... a fear of snakes, and/or spiders is apparently, part of our collective memory. So, why not other memories of a more specific nature?

These are evolved traits, not really memories.

Cats have agoraphobic (fear of open spaces) tendencies not because an ancient cat saw a bird kill another cat. It’s because one cat happened to be agoraphobic, not get killed by large birds, and pass her genes on.

2

There is such a thing as "genetic memory", it's what in part explains for lack of a better word aptitude in various living things.
Furthermore it's mind blowing to consider that before we were ever born, our mothers were born with the genetic code for each one of us, as women only produce a certain number of eggs. The eggs we were born with, so in a sense born before we existed. 😮

With purpose bred animals for example, breeding pairs are often chosen for specific traits, some of them based on personality types....which in turn can and are often clearly passed on.
It's why you don't buy a shitzu to do police work, or a mini donkey for a draft horse.

2

I stopped reading after I saw reincarnation

2

Wow! What an excellent topic. Ive always had an idea of reincarnation but had no proof, if there actually is any. DNA memories sounds like something that actually be founded with scientific methods. The brain is researchable and remarkable. How does that compare with spiritual research and physical evidence? AND, it much more believable because of the stories passed down by our ancestors.

Thanks. That is what I'm thinking it could all be about

You will find some links on my comment .. Its not like pictorial memory but more evolutionary and related to fear and pain response .. but direct trauma can be passed through sperm which affects neural structure in the following generation ! 🙂

Really interesting subject !!

@Nickbeee but that's not the same as a person's memories. It's about adaptations to environment aimed at survival. Bein born with someone else's memories is what was suggested.

2
2

Very interesting theory, I’m going look into DNA memory. Thanks for the post.

2

Or does it even matter?

Yeah, to me cuz I'm curious and I think they belong to different belief systems.

haha eerrrr cider

@AmelieMatisse I wish you well in your recovery.

1

Interesting,how instinct is transferred in animals.I heard they are thinking about using dna to store computer memory,like Star Treks ship has a living computer.However having experinced out of body experince's before.I get chills seeing my home of long ago,seeing mount kilaminjaro

1

I read that too! I think there is more that we don't know than what we do know about most things.

I agree and I guess I'm amazed that there are so many neigh sayers when this is bring investigated by the scientific community. Sometimes I think that people stay stuck in one belief system and refuse to look at any other discourse on the subject

1

Ah, the mighty conderal DNA. That one is the strongest kind. Maybe it could still be reintarnation.

Just kidding.

1

I'd go with coding in the DNA, as I don't subscribe to the concept of reincarnation.

1

I am a fan of genetic memory. Works for animals.

That would be very plausible.

1

More inclined to believe DNA memory. While Buddhism has made contributions to my life I won't believe in reincarnation until it happens to me.

Thanks @ssteiner9 for the input. I am Buddhist as far as my life philosophy goes but I don't believe in reincarnation. I think the scientific research happening with DNA as with the brain is amazing. I read David Eagleman's book on brain research and was blown away by it.

1

I believe I am a composite of my parents DNA, with new experiences added by me. So on my Father side there may be descendant of african slave and even african royalty mixed with the criollos forged of Spanish settlers and caribe indians, in my mother side the spanish conquistadors that found the native taino female of the island fresh and pleasant. My mother has hazel eyes and natural curls, her hell raising fire still on her 90's. My natural curls soft and my lack of beard like many mulato in my father side and his cool, benevolant demeanor, his dignity and honor passed to me along with his cold brown eyes. I will live all my life enamored of women, that I do respect so much. As a youth only liked one type of girl only. Native of my island looking... long, soft, straight hair, dark skin. Took me time to realize there is Beauty in every race, mixed or pure. One day I wrote a song in spanish about "the cross or the sword", the only two alternatives the tainos and caribes had from the spanish, when I did the video added a "soneo" section to include the african slave experience. And writing it was like if I knew what happened without research of any kind. Only research done was for the images on the video, not the lyrics. We are a lot more than what we see in a mirror or a selfie, but to find you it takes a lifetime, I am still discovering me and at times I believe I am this inmortal soul that was born to create and be creative and just because I don't remember doesnt means I am not. Death may give me an answer or surprise the hell out of me. And this Dude will Abide.

Thanks for this comment. We are all so much more than we know

@AmelieMatisse And some people don't get it... sometimes it takes another person to crack it open. I know it sounds ridiculous but I will like to experience before I die having a broken heart. Just to see what it feels like, but then my thought comes that maybe I already experienced it and I was just too full of myself to notice it or at my age it will not be the same effect than someone at 20.

@GipsyOfNewSpain I think a broken heart is experienced differently by everyone. Or maybe broken heart is the wrong term. Obviously a heart can be fixed or else we would be walking around like zombies

@AmelieMatisse Yep, first friend I ever saw with a Really Broken Heart was like 17-18 with a fullquarter bottle of Rum for himself. We were seniors in high school, In my mind I thought.. "I know she is pretty but....", thinking about it I had never gotten drunk on purpose because my heart aches for somebody. It is not in my DNA to do or is a learned behavior. I simply write poetry and songs until she is out of my system. And I am Grateful for that. Sometimes good writing comes out of it.

1

There is no structure to retain “memory” as we understand it in DNA itself, any more than you can live in the blue prints for a house. That being said... there is a lot we do not understand about how memories are stored and retrieved in the first place. I don’t tend to see any reason or evidence to think reincarnation is a thing. Beyond anecdotal accounts, there is no evidence. Evidence would be something like locating a specific object or place one has never visited or otherwise experienced and being able to locate hidden objects or details which would only be evident to someone who had physically been there in the past.
Now, this does not discount the fact that we are all linearly derived from the first organism to arise on earth. There is a lot of dispute over how much of our behavior is “hardwired” from our genome and how much is due to the influence of environment. So at the very least, we know some behaviors are passsed on. To my knowledge however, “experience” is not imprinted in anyway upon the genetic material. Now, I do have some outlandish notions myself... briefly, all of life itself, at least life arising on earth is an organism unto itself (speculation). If something like this is the case, there may be more avenues of communication than the ones we ostensibly identify... but as I said, that’s just a fringe idea that I’m attracted to at the moment, not something I can concretely prove.

1

How could DNA possibly hold new information from individuals? What mechanism would cause your DNA to change? Why hasn’t DNA been observed changing except in mutations or cancer?

There is strong research that followed geerations after famine that found metobolical changes down the line, so DNA is sensitive enough to environmental stressors to make real changes in offspring. The epigenome is proving to have a significant role in the reproduction and expression of many traits.

@Cheri That sounds plausible. Passing down actual memories from a brain to DNA to offspring doesn’t.

@indirect76 I totally agree with you. Inherriting memories sounds pretty far fetched to me too. I work with a counselor who believes memories come with transplanted hearts. People take a little anecdote and turn it into the strangest things.

0

It is not reincarnation so much as evolution. The basis of evolution is that creatures evolve to best survive in their environment. For much of the animal world, certain characteristics evolve to best low them to fit into their environment; a camel evolved to go long periods without water making it able to survive the desert. A chameleon whose skin can change color became better at camouflage and evolved better. As humans, we have adopted many forms and sizes, skin colors and abilities. So your DNA would hold maybe not your memory of what happened to your ancestors, but the evolutionary qualities that allowed them to reproduce and thrive. So, to use the slave example, being able to run and evade captors, to have the spirit to be free, would be traits that could be passed on to future generations through DNA, and hearing history might trigger those same emotions, making it seem like a memory when it is just a reaction.

0

I know there has been science behind DNA memory to date, but am thinking that reincarnation memory would be different due to the fact that they are not always relatives.

0

Interesting

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