#2 The Most Dangerous Idea You've Never Heard of
A tale of invisible fumes, cultural myths, and the quiet rewriting of self.
In the Summer of 1966, geochemist Clair Patterson stood before the U.S. Congress in Washington with a critically important message. It was wrapped in technicalities:
“It is possible that deleterious effects to the health of large number of people are being caused by these high levels of exposure.”
But the meaning of his testimony was stark:
We are being poisoned,
By the very air we breathe.
For decades, lead had been added to petrol to stop “engine knocking”, a form of premature ignition that could damage engines and reduce performance. It was a technological triumph. But what seemed like progress was quietly seeping into our blood, bones, and brains. Children’s IQs were dropping. Crime rates were climbing. Something invisible was altering how people thought, learned, and acted.
The culprit was everywhere. It was pumped out of exhaust pipes, absorbed into soil, carried into classrooms and kitchens. It was in drinking water. And yet, no one noticed. Not because it wasn’t harmful, but because it was normal. Ubiquitous. Unquestioned.
By the time the lawmakers caught up and leaded petrol was banned, it had already reshaped entire societies.
But lead wasn’t the only thing we’ve been breathing in.
Ideas, are atmospheric.
They drift through culture.
They settle into policy.
They seep into our sense of self.
And like leaded petrol, some of them are toxic.
One of the most corrosive ideas is probably already sitting on your bookshelf, lined with titles like Grit and Atomic Habits. It’s in the self-help podcast you put on while folding laundry, the 5am productivity hack you tried (and failed) last year, It’s in your workplace policies, the parenting advice, the school system, and the internal monologue that whispers:
If I just worked harder… I’d be better by now.
It’s called the Blank Slate Theory. And it’s an idea that is embedded so deeply within our systems that we don’t even notice it’s there. It’s everywhere. Like the air we breathe.
But you’ve probably never heard of it.
And that’s what makes it so dangerous.
Where it came from
The Blank Slate theory is the belief that human beings are born with no inherent traits. That our personalities, preferences, and abilities are entirely shaped by our environment and experiences.
It’s the idea that nurture is everything.
That biology doesn’t matter.
That with the right upbringing, anyone can become anything.
There’s a famous quote from John B. Watson, the founder of behaviorism. In 1930, he wrote:
“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.”
— John B. Watson
It was a manifesto for malleability. One that denied the existence of innate tendencies, cognitive wiring, or inherited traits. And for much of the 20th century, this idea quietly embedded itself in how we taught, parented, and governed.
It wasn’t until after World War II that the Blank Slate became culturally dominant. In the wake of Nazi eugenics and racial pseudoscience, the world stepped back from any suggestion that biology might influence ability or identity. A deep fear of determinism took hold.
And in its place, we embraced an equally dangerous new story. That fairness means treating everyone as if they are the same.
On the surface, it sounded like progress. It felt like equality.
But it quietly erased the reality of human variation.
It made us feel that differences, especially differences that didn’t respond to will power, must be personal failures.
Why it stuck
It’s easy to see why the Blank Slate idea caught fire.
It promised fairness. It was a perfect match for a culture obsessed with personal responsibility. It told us we were endlessly malleable. That we could achieve anything, overcome anything, become anyone.
If we just worked hard enough.
And we started selling this bonfire everywhere:
In classrooms that measured every student by the same metrics.
In workplaces that praised "grit" but ignored burnout.
In governments that blamed poor health on personal choices while ignoring genetics and stress.
Each system quietly reinforcing the dangerous message that your wiring doesn’t matter. That discipline is destiny. That biology is irrelevant.
Slowly, insidiously, and almost invisibly, the Blank Slate became the default operating system of modern life. And it’s still running quietly in the background.
What the science actually says
But here’s the thing. We’re not blank slates.
And the science on this is unequivocal.
Robert Plomin is a leading voice in the field of behavioral genomics. Through his decades of research he has shown that every psychological trait has a genetic basis. Not just intelligence, but personality, motivation, even susceptibility to mental illness.
Plomin puts it bluntly: “DNA makes us who we are.”
We see the same message in the world-famous Dunedin Study (aka the Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study), that has tracked over 1,000 New Zealanders from birth into adulthood for more than five decades.
What they found?
Temperament in early childhood is one of the strongest predictors of adult outcomes.
Children with poor self-regulation at age 3 were more likely to struggle with health, wealth, and criminality decades later.
Those with high cognitive control early in life went on to flourish, even across very different environments.
This doesn’t mean your future is fixed. It means your wiring matters.
And pretending it doesn’t won’t help anyone.
How it harms us
When we believe in the Blank Slate, every struggle feels like a personal failing.
Can’t get up at 5am to journal and jog? You must be lazy.
Can’t stay “gritty” in the face of setbacks? You must lack resilience.
Can’t focus like a monk with a Pomodoro timer? You must not really want it.
But these aren’t moral failures.
They’re mismatches between your ancient cognitive wiring and the expectations of the modern world.
And when we don’t name the mismatch between who we are and who we’re told to be, we turn on ourselves. We internalise shame. And that shame becomes heavy. It seeps into our sense of self.
And we waste years trying to fix what was never broken to begin with
What if it’s not you?
What if your struggle isn’t a failure of willpower, but a sign that the modern world doesn’t align with your ancient wiring? What if your brain is adapted for something different, something that still matters, even if the system doesn’t seem to value it?
The Blank Slate myth wants you to believe that your difference is dysfunction. But the truth is: diversity in wiring is the point. It’s a feature of evolution, not a flaw. It’s how we survive complexity. It’s how we adapt to the growing polycrisis that is heaving and writhing around us.
And it’s time for a new story.
One where difference isn’t dysfunction.
One where minds are built differently for a reason.
Because if we want to build systems that work for humans,
This starts by remembering what humans are.
And we are not blank slates.
We never were.
This makes so much sense to me. I’m trying to turn the tide on this by sharing my story and looking to learn as much as I can so that my children can benefit from the change we can bring about.
I've had this sitting in my inbox to read - and finally a nice long weekend gave me the chance.
A beautifully crafted post.
Anyone feeling frustrated or confused will benefit from reading this.
I love this piece,
"And when we don’t name the mismatch between who we are and who we’re told to be, we turn on ourselves. We internalise shame. And that shame becomes heavy. It seeps into our sense of self.
And we waste years trying to fix what was never broken to begin with."