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From Shadow Puppets:

"Yes, yes," said Anton, "so I gleaned from Sister Carlotta, God rest her soul. But why did you, and you alone, sneak out of your bed and go into the bathroom and hide in such a dangerous and difficult place? Scarcely a year old, too. So precocious. So desperate to survive. Yet genetically identical to all your brothers, da?"

"Cloned," said Bean, "so ... yes.

However, Bean was only genetically identical to five of his brothers (including Nikolai). The other six were from a separate clone. So how could Bean not know that? He lived with his parents for a year at that point already.

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    I don't see the quote as saying "genetically identical to every infant in the room".
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Nov 8, 2013 at 1:55
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    @DVK How does all your brothers not imply that he was genetically identical to all the males?
    – ike
    Commented Nov 8, 2013 at 15:23
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    because it doesn't imply that everyone in the room was his brother.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Nov 8, 2013 at 17:50
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    @DVK I don't see where you're going with this. They were all his brothers based on other parts in the series. Do you want quotes for that from Ender's Shadow?
    – ike
    Commented Nov 8, 2013 at 20:15
  • the point is, this is a discrepancy in English language, not in the plot. All != "everyone in the room".
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Nov 8, 2013 at 20:19

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Though Bean was originally genetically identical to Nicoli as a fertilized embryo, Bean's DNA was altered to activate the "hyper-intelligence" gene-cluster. The point being: Though genetically similar, their DNA was not identical; which is no small difference considering the resulting dimorphism both intellectually and physiologically. Consider peafowl: the genetic difference between a peacock and a peahen comes down to a few "lines of gattaca", however the physiological dimorphism is extremely apparent considering the ornamentation, coloring, and size differences. With genes, being 99.999% identical can lead to extreme differences.

It is possible that when Bean answered that he was "genetically identical" he was referring to the gene's that mattered the most: those being the activated "super-intelligence" genes.

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  • Bean was only 50% identical to the other six boys. They were from a separate egg. There's a difference between that and the 99.999% that he and Nicoli shared. And the quote from Bean: "Cloned," said Bean, "so ... yes." shows that he meant that they were perfect clones of him genetically. Sharing 50% like any two brothers doesn't mean genetically identical.
    – ike
    Commented Oct 13, 2014 at 15:59

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