What Does Your DNA Say, Or Not Say, About You?

[Steve Woolf]

In this week's show we talked about the service provided by 23andme, which is a personal genome analysis for $999. Obviously that's still a lot of money, but it will keep coming down as science progresses.

Do you think it's bad that everyone's genome analysis will probably be available someday soon? Some things are good -- like being able to know if you need to watch out for certain diseases. But other things, like how athletic you are, can hold you back if you think your genes don't make you a star athlete.

So what do you guys think? Will we become prisoners of our DNA?

[Andy]

hmmm
sounds real dodgy 2 me son. what if that shit fell into da wrong hands. earlier this month 2 discs containing information on everybody that receives child benefit in the UK went missing and are still missing. thats 25million people's data on disc, vanished! If it helps fight disease, thats always good, but can it be trusted? and can the data remain safe?

not sure
p.s. another good show!

[Mihai Cosma]

I for one welcome the opportunity to one day have my very own gattaca baby

[Steve Woolf]

hahaha!

[Mayank]

na this would freak me out what if the results showed you had some incurable disorder that you or your kids could have!!! eeeeeeeeeep

[TheFemGeek]

I don't know if knowing the make up of your genes will determine if you are going to try for something you want or would love to do, I think that's more mental than anything, but I do think it will be good to know about certain genes that can cause certain birth defects. The main interest for me is that people may finally begin to see and realize just how close we are. I come from a multicultural family and it's hard to explain to people how I don't belong to a certain "community" because I was fortunate enough to know more about our different cultures except for, of course, my African ancestry. I hope people will see that they are made up of many groups and that maybe it's time for us to concentrate on being Americans, a country that is represented by people of mixed cultures. It's really comical to hear a conversation from someone like, Argentina, who may ask an American, "what are you?", then here an American breakdown how they are Irish, Italian, etc, then hear the the person from Argentina say " I mean what country are you from"...why because most people from other countries only understand birth place and citizenship. This conversation actually happened.

[anabee]

I think there is a double edge-sword to everything, it's good because you can watch out for certain diseases, such as cancer or if you have a higher risk for getting diabetes, or even you have a chance of spreading some genetic defect to your kid.

But what if certain employers or insurance companies can hold this information against you, I mean there have been certain cases where this has already happen without this technology at hand. I don't know I distrust a lot of this just because the downside is always 100 times worse than the good things it can accomplish.

[Steve Woolf]

yeah, you pretty much echo my own opinion. when something this powerful is available, there is always a good and bad side.

[J.W.]

I see some1 already beat me to the Gattica reference.
I just came in here to make sure that had been done.

And I nominate playthisthing.com as a site possibly worth a mention on yer show. I go there for casual pc gaming suggestions.

[Daniel Miller]

Yet another nod to Gattaca as a really good commentary on what this might look like in the future. But. I for one am really excited about the technology and am contemplating doing it. Trying to figure out what my price point might be, but like so many personal data collection tools it has this inherit* appeal. But. Wouldn't want that data to get into the hands of an employer ...or anyone else for that matter.

*buh-dum-ching! Meant: inherent. Totally unintentional, I promise.

[Danny]

My big problem with the whole thing is that people naturally find a way to distort Ideas set in place to help them. I.E when china set into effect a law that limited the amount of children and single family could have, they where attempting to control their population growth in a civil way. Well, people began throwing a way their female offspring because women cannot carry one a blood line. My fear is that all the people that live their lives through their kids, the child actors and the 5 year old pageant queens, what if they could see if there kid would be the vesicle of perfection they would need to live their dreams? and what if they child they bore was not as perfect as they would like? This world is full of people that simply cannot handle the truth and it is near impossible to know who these people are till its too late. I guess we will see =)

[Mike]

lol if u have $1000 to waste why not , and prisoners of our DNA? maybe

[Maiflowers]

I don't know. It would be hard to take it. "Heres your life, and a five dollar coupon off your next visit." Like how can someone just give you your future on a silver platter and how can we trust that this is are true DNA what if it gets mixed up and you end up thinking your going to get cancer when your really just prone to the common cold.

I bet most people will use it as a template for there life, with the whole not being a star athlete. It shouldn't stop you from doing what you want but it probably will.

I think it will over all be a good thing though. Of corse it will be your choice whether or not you want that kind of information but how can it really be used against you? If your genes say you wont be a famous singer because you don't have the voice, well sorry, hun, your not going to be a singer. If you don't have the talent then you just can't do it weather you know it or not. Some peope have a nack for something and others have to work hard for it. But someone like e could never be a track runner, not only is it not in my genes but I just know I can't do it. I would love to be a football player because I love the sport but no matter how much I practice I will never be as good as other people in my class. Instead I'm stuck with being an actress. My genes probably give me the talent for memorizing lines (when I read books I always lose my book marks so I memorize the page I'm at, instead), having very little stage fright, having big gestures that come and look natural, and having a loud voice. I want to be a performer in a play one day.