Genetic memory in the SARP

[OsakanOne]

Other than the Lorath which are the example I know of, what species have genetic memory?

I just had a thought some Lorath players might be interested in while watching Wolf Children. Since the Lorath do have some genetic memory, wouldn't a child have some memory of how their parents were like when they first met, what they were like when they were younger and maybe when they first met and how they fell in love or how they were conceived?

So even if a parent died before they were born, they'd remember something.

I think it would be more strongly tied to the parent of the same genetic sex. Memories of mother or memories of father from the perspective of the other. But it would definitely go both ways.

There's something oddly sentimental about it. I think the Lorath would be a very sentimental people. A bit wishy washy underneath that hard face they have to make for the world because of their cultural circumstances and the way the universe at large views them.

The others who do experience genetic memory... How does it affect them culturally? How does it affect them personally? These are things I'd like to know of.

Thank-you for your time.

 

[Nashoba]

I would say this is an opportunity to truly define the genetic memory for the Lorath. Most instances I have seen in scifi the genetic memory is not so specialized as to have memories of the parents. Usually its more significant events a near extinction type incident.

But the rationale can be made for the type you are talking about. But then the question becomes how does that genetic memory affect the development of the individual.

 

[OsakanOne]

I can see this memory and the lack of chromosomal error among siblings and even parents being why Lorath families are so tightly intertwined. Aiesu pines for her father the same way her mother does, arguably even more intensely than her mother does because she lost him at such a young age. She's quite broody about it, I think and playing her I've noticed going back through old roleplay that she seems to look for her father in the men she deals with.

Lalah on the other hand was the result of a surrogate. It shows: She plays friendly and tight but she's actually quite distant. She seems to have problems dealing with rejection -- why she has the memory of one of her parents in her heart but not the other - and this strange other person who fills that place who she's never met. Who is this person? What were they like? So as a result, she's obsessed with whatever family history she can learn about - which would be her mother's side and their long military history. But she still wants to know who that other person inside her head, inside her heart, is.

 

[Wes]

If DNA can suffer from mutations due to environmental factors, wouldn't genetic memory also be susceptible? It might be interesting to have cases where people have mutated memories that cause them to have bizarre beliefs.

 

[Moogle]

I recently put forth the idea that my Merril (lynx-aspected L'manel) might end up going feral at some point due to her family's history as animal breeders/livestock keepers, and perhaps genealogical mutation might have something to do with it. Like, a genetic memory gets picked up somewhere down the line from an aspected creature that sticks a little too close.

 

[OsakanOne]

Wes: given the insane redundancy of genetics (2.2 grams can store the entirety of all information in the world today right now) and something like 70% of our genome basically being noise... I can see it slowing access speeds like damaged RAID but not actually going as far as totally screw stuff up.

 

[Ira]

Genetic memory is a staple of Gartagen medical science. The way things are, it is one of the technologies the Gartagens have that likely out strips the other factions. The warrior stuff gets all the hype, but when you get past it the Gartagens are more of an engineer species, and they tinker. Things they have tinkered with and likely have a strong understanding of include their own DNA.

 

[Ametheliana]

Epigenetics deals with memeories being passed down fro parent to child to parent to child, etc and could be an answer to this question as far as an IRL example of how it could work.

 

[Navian]

Calling epigenetics 'memories' is a huge exaggeration, but some kind of organism that does have the ability to inherent memories genetically is conceivable. I think it would give them trouble adapting, though. If their parents found something scary, and their parent's parents found it scary... they're just going to keep passing the phobia down forever, unless they get some serious therapy, and then they'd become the family's black sheep.

Same problem if they really like a type of fruit that's become poisonous recently, they just won't be able to let it go and develop a new favourite without a lot of trouble. It's advantageous if their environment changes slowly, but a hindrance if each generation faces new challenges.

Parents having to pass on their knowledge to their children in words encourages introspection, rational thought, and critical thinking skills, too, so I'd expect a race with genetic memory to lay off those things a bit and do and believe a lot more without thinking. Of course, there's plenty of human parents who avoid all three things, too, so I don't think it'd be unfamiliar, or that the tendency would be overwhelming.

 

[Wes]

The Rixxikor have a type of genetic memory that's breifly mentioned on their species article:

Curiously, a Rixxikor's off-spring seem to inherit much of their parent's language, personality, and most important memories via some kind of genetic memory.