Today the New York TImes has a story about people who are getting the full text of their DNA on a computer disk.
Soon enough, scientists say, we will all be able to decipher our own genomes — the six billion letters of genetic code containing the complete inventory of the traits we inherited from our parents — for as little as $1,000. Just what we will do with the essence of who we are once we get a copy, however, is likely to be as much a social experiment as a scientific one.
By the end of the summer, Dr. Church’s research project promises to deliver sequences to its first 10 volunteers. Unlike Dr. Watson, whose complete genome cost $1 million, the project’s volunteers will receive the one percent of their genome currently deemed most useful at a cost of $1,000.
What will people do with this information? Will it change the way we find a spouse, get a job, choose where to live, whether to have children? Will potential father-in-laws want to see our DNA before agreeing to let us marry their daughters? Wow — this will be a wild ride.
What stance should the church take on this advance? What do you think about this opportunity? Let’s have a conversation here.
Steve,
Have you ever seen the movie Gattaca? It’s one of my favorites of all time (so maybe I’m a bit of a nerd). It’s based on the notion that we will all be catagorized by our genetic code (not unlike Huxley’s vision in Brave New World) and that we actually WILL hand a print out of our code (or a drop of blood) to employers, girlfriends, and, if it were pertinent to the film, I would imagine even father in laws.
I can only assume that, based on the shallow selfishness and insecurities of human nature, having such information at our fingertips will lead to new manifestations of discrimination and pride.
I don’t think that the advance or the opportunity in and of its self would be wrong, so I’m having trouble finding a reason for the church to oppose it, but I don’t trust society, as an organism, to be a good steward of such personal, readily available, information.