I am dumb, I am aware. If twins have the same DNA, are they the same person from a biological standpoint?

  • fubo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    No, they are biologically separate individuals. For example:

    • If one twin takes a drug, the other twin’s body is not thereby affected by that drug.
    • If one twin learns a piece of information, the other twin does not thereby learn it.
    • If one twin suffers an injury or disability (e.g. breaking a leg), the other twin remains uninjured.
    • If one twin goes on a calorie-restricted diet while the other does not, only the first twin will lose weight.

    Two organisms grown from fertilized eggs with the same DNA are still two different organisms. Their biological processes (e.g. metabolism) are not directly affected by one another; so they are biologically not the same individual.

    • cryshlee@lemm.eeOP
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      1 year ago

      Thank you for answering! I think what I was getting at with my question was more asking if at birth (or at some point in conception) on a molecular level, are twins identical clones of each other, with identical structures in their cells. Obviously as they grow they diverge, but are they from identical source material?

      I don’t know why my brain decided to have this existential confusion today, so I apologize for my ignorance

      • fubo@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        DNA spells out how your cells work. But it doesn’t control what environment you interact with. What you learn depends on your environment, not your DNA: for example, if twin babies are separated at birth and one grows up with English-speakers and the other grows up with Polish-speakers, one would be fluent in English and the other in Polish. They’re clearly not “the same person” even if they’re running the same cellular source code.

        Put another way: If you and I are running the same browser on the same OS, that doesn’t mean I know all your passwords.