August 13, 2012
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Would you want to know?
During breakfast yesterday, Mrs jigg brought up that she heard the wife of one of the founders of Google came up with the technology to scan your DNA and tell you if you have any or if you are in high risk of one of those hereditary diseases. She asked me if I would do that if it gets approved by the FDA.
My first thought was Gataca. For those of you who have never seen the movie (SEE IT!), it’s set in a world where the government has everyone’s DNA on file and you are tracked and ID’d through instant blood tests with a prick of the finger at every turnstile.
If any one entity had all this huge database of DNA, I would imagine it may be used for gene research and eventually, gene altering, where they can take away all the bad genes before a child is born (like in Gataca). Maybe it would be great where we can take away the celiac disease or even the high risks of diabetes before our children are born, but would it be a better world? What else can this lead to?
My next thought was that if the government passed a law and absorbed this company, they would now have access to everyone’s DNA and while I would never go so far to say that government is evil, I believe that the government does what’s best in it’s interest and that may not necessarily in line with what’s best in our interest.
The last thought I had was that what if this machine is eventually upgraded to predict the length of your natural lifespan and is only off by 2 years? Would you want to know?
I’m not so sure I want to know. Would I really do things differently knowing that the machine said in 5 years, give or take 2 (3-7 years) or if it said 50 years? I’m not so sure. I feel like I’m already making the choices that are best for me and my family. If my lifespan was shorter, I don’t think I would necessarily make too big of a change. I wouldn’t stop working. I might even feel the need to work even more to make more money so that Mrs jigg would be taken care of once I pass.
I guess that question would be the litmus test of your life right now–if you only had only 3-7 years left in your life, would you want to know and if you do, how would things change for you in terms of goals and lifestyles? If you make great changes, why aren’t you doing those things now?
Comments (15)
inevitable.
We’ve been living without knowing for so long, why add another concern to our lives?
I don’t even want to think about it. Sounds scary.
If this technology becomes reality, you won’t necessarily have to use it, but you’ll kind of be forced to because I suspect all the good jobs and marriage partners will want to see your genetic stock before making a committment.
that’s interesting technology, but i wouldn’t want to know, either. the beauty of life is never knowing for sure, but to always do the best you can, right?
This actually isn’t new – there are a few companies that have been offering this for a reasonable price. At $300, people are able to get a pretty reasonable scan. There is often a lot of misconception at what these companies – and Google – do – they do not actually give predictors from DNA (that is generally impossible.)
Gattaca is sooooo good!
and it sounds scary. so i’m in limbo…
i sent a little vial of saliva to 23andme.com earlier this year. they send me reports of increased or decreased disease risk, my probable drug response and surveys about my health history or physical traits. it’s a novelty at this stage. i sometimes get conflicting info, like both an increased and decreased risk of diabetes. it says i have 1.93 times the average person’s risk for Alzheimer’s. but i have a decreased risk than the average for Parkinson’s.
If employers could use this database to screen new hires, they probably would. That is what most people are afraid of.
It’s that, — what you said you’d do — that is worrisome, in my opinion. I’d like to think that people would care about spending more time with their family and friends, etc. .
If such a database ever becomes reality, I’d rather see it in the hands of the government than a private company. Of the two evils, the former seems to have more checks and balances (assuming we are not in a dictatorial, rogue regime kind of situation).
I think it would be good if they can use this for something like, if your child would be at risk for a disease early in their life. Or if they would be born with deficiencies that affect them for the rest of their life. Determining entire lifespans is completely arbitrary, imo, because it’s based on health factors that you control in your lifetime. Any system of standardization would not fit the bill for any one person and would probably just induce fear and paranoia if used so “precisely”.
Love that movie… but no, I wouldn’t want to know!
nah. i never let such things control my life,science or superstition(fortune telling). i rather not know my life span but try my best in my way to live life fullest if tomorrow never comes.
It’s good to have a plan based on an accurate time-table, but if I knew, I would spend far too much time counting down rather than looking forward. I wouldn’t want to know.
And if we’re not already there, we’re quickly approaching a point of information overload. This is just another example. That kind of information is dangerous and has serious ethical concerns. In parts of Asia, people are already using ultrasound technology to decipher the baby’s gender and terminate it based on the resultant gender. Reckless people do reckless things with great technology.