As every student in Philosophy 101 learns, nothing can force me to believe that anyone except me is conscious. This power to deny that other people have feelings is not just an academic exercise but an all-too-common vice, as we see in the long history of human cruelty.

... people notice differences and expect every difference in form to convey some difference in meaning.

Forcing modern speakers of English to not - whoops, not to split an infinitive because it isn't done in Latin makes about as much sense as forcing modern residents of England to wear laurels and togas.

I teach classes 28 weeks of the year, but the rest of the time I do research and write books.

In any dispute, each side thinks it's in the right and the other side is demons.

So no, it's not all in the genes, but what isn't in the genes isn't in the family environment either. It can't be explained in terms of the overall personalities or the child-rearing practices of parents.

Unfortunately, creative people are at their most creative when writing their autobiographies.