You could argue destiny put my grandson Travis on the Warriors’ defensive line.

Travis is 13. He’s also 6 feet tall and about 250 pounds.

He’s a freshman at Maui’s Kamehameha Schools, an education center for children of Hawaiian ancestry.

His size alone singles him out for football.

But there’s more to being on the Warriors’ junior varsity than size. Or even football skill.

Travis has to want to play a team sport. He must be willing to think and act collectively.

He should ignore the girls in the stands chanting “Travis! Travis! Travis!”

Well, OK, there are limits — even on destiny.

But increasingly, science claims that just about everything we do — from holding the defensive line to preferring pot roast to salmon — is locked in our DNA.

We are not what we make ourselves, the scientists argue. We are what our ancestors have made us.

Just consider the latest scientific claim that die-hard liberals and conservatives are born that way. Political persuasion has less to do with life experiences than what’s in our genes, the DNA dabblers say.

According to published reports, researchers looked at 46 people who fell into two camps — liberals who supported foreign aid, immigration, pacifism and gun control; and conservatives who advocated defense spending, capital punishment, patriotism and the Iraq war.

The subjects looked at images of a bloody face, maggots in a wound and a spider on a frightened face. A scientific whatjamacallit measured the “electrical conductance of their skin” — in other words, it measured their fear.

Then these same people were measured for blinks as they responded to sudden blasts of noise.

And the conclusion: People who are staunch conservatives are three times more fearful.

The scientists maintain that this conclusion holds up even after they factor out the effects of gender, age, income and education, which can also affect political leanings.

What does this mean? Conservatives are cautious and prevent society from taking risks, while liberals foster cooperation with others. That’s the scientific definition, folks, not mine.

And why should we care?

Well, for starters, what does this say about the legacy we leave? Not the monetary one, but the legacy of family values, for example.

All those photo albums, those oral histories, those treasured icons that evoke our ancestors. Do they just serve as a literal interpretation of a familial reaction to goopy maggots? Our fight-or-flee genes translated into military service or pioneer housewives or whether we can carry a tune.

Should I encourage Travis to pick his future girlfriend based on a DNA sample that shows they will be compatible in all things?

Ah, truly there is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition. Rod Serling called it “The Twilight Zone.” Welcome.