Hacker News Reader

Comment by iandanforth | Hacker News Reader

I recommend you only send your genetic data to companies if you're willing to have it exposed. Then again I also recommend you make your genetic data public, for the common good. Here's Mine: https://www.openhumans.org/member/iandanforth/

View on HN

I remember deciding that I never want to ever have my DNA in any database after watching this talk:

DEF CON 25 - John Sotos - Genetic Diseases to Guide Digital Hacks of the Human Genome (2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKQDSgBHPfY

Can you give your own quick summary?

Bioweapons targeting specific genetic characteristics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_drive

When people talk about existential risk fears, this is without a doubt my fear. All it would take is a small group that is ethnically supremacist and technically capable. How many edge-lords joke that the problem with the world is that there are too many people? Imagine you could drastically reduce overall population while maintaining your own ethnicity. And it could be done slowly, a harsh flu now and again that affects the general population at a much higher percentage while sparing your own kin. It's terrifying to think this could be justified in the minds of some.

Though that's a chilling thought, I am more worried about someone trying to produce such a bioweapon, but just doing an amateur job and killing us all with their buggy alpha release.

Imho, both scenarios are frightening, but for very different reasons.

Have you never seen an episode of Black Mirror?! But on a serious note, something seems so naive about making that available for anyone. The future is coming fast.

Can't have your data leaked when you put everything online yourself. /s

Not sure if it's a good idea ; reminds me of the classic "nothing to hide" motto

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_to_hide_argument#Criti...

Can someone clone you with this? In the future?

No, that's not possible. 23andMe doesn't do full sequencing, that would be too expensive for their average customer. The main reason people take the test, which they heavily advertise, is that it tells you your supposed ancestry. It's basically a modern, more sophisticated version of race science. Instead of only comparing skin color, skull shapes, noses and such, they now look at specific sequences in specific genes and compare them among many people from around the world. The claim is this can tell you what your "ethnicity" is and where your ancestors came from. Ignoring of course that humans (and the genes they carry) don't necessarily have fixed physical locations and the interpretation, while maybe true, may also be complete bunk. But Americans love it for maybe obvious reasons.

I had a buddy take one of the tests and they basically just circled the UK and said "you're from here". He already knew that for the most part.

The only benefit I can imagine* is knowing if I have individual genetic markers for something I should tell my son about.

You know, I'd forgive all their trespasses if they used it to create a personalized organ transplant service.

No, that would be quite impossible.

Why should everyone make their genetic data publicly available? What common good does this serve?

If you're from an undersampled population (e.g. Africans), having more public data is useful for improving large scale genetic research. That's how we find things like ghost lineages. Most people's genetic data is significantly less valuable for research without other info (e.g. medical history) though, so I certainly wouldn't consider that universal advice considering the obvious privacy implications for you and your extended family.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com