Am I simply my father's son?

There's a picture from 1963 of my father, dressed in bell-bottomed blue jeans, a white t-shirt and the white hats that sailor's wear; he's sporting his typical crooked grin that people immediately recognize as Harley's - that's right my dad's name is Harley, hilarious. My sister found it 40 years later when I was home on military leave and asked me why I was wearing old-fashioned glasses in the photo; you see, my father and I look like twins who were victims of some weird temporal hic-cup, each coming to life 35 years apart.
Dad is a handy guy to have around when you something - nearly anything really - this guy can fabricate it from stuff laying around the garage... he made an aquarium once just by "eye-balling" one in an aquatic store. He always focuses on the details of projects, meticulously making sure everything is just right. The guy has enormous patience, too; insert some lame joke about the strengths of a man being developed from the faults of his wife - I wouldn't have been able to stand my mom but I'm glad the two of them "got it on. He’s not a very educated man, aside from technical college for auto body repair but he still has a curious mind and we occasionally have interesting conversations.
When I was six or seven years old I was given two electrical toy cars that within two months had been taken apart and then combined into a single toy that looked like one of it’s progenitors but had the functionality of both. I’ve always had a knack for figuring out how things work. I’ve also inherited my father’s patience. Since moving back home to Minnesota, my girlfriend has commented on several occasions of how much my mannerisms remind her of my father; the way I ask questions, how I talk to our cats, how I mumble/grumble while not expecting any response from others.
So, I look like my dad, sound like him, act like him, and have similar talents. The biggest difference between the two of us is that he just got diagnosed with leukemia a few months ago, which according to the doc he’s had retrospective indicators of for the last ten years. So how much of my talents, abilities, and future has been dictated by our genetic link. I have my notions based on my own personal beliefs and the little knowledge I’ve acquired over my life but now I find myself questioning the validity of these presumptions – both sides of the man vs. machine debate are tainted with accusations of lies, deception, and manipulation driven by the darker traits of what it means to be human so how can I trust either side of the argument?