DNA Unraveled: Unlocking the Mysteries of Your Genome
Whenever I go to my local grocery store, I check the front page of the newspapers to get a pulse of what the chattering class is chattering about (in print anyway). One New York Times cover story in particular caught my attention: “My Genome, Myself: Seeking Clues in DNA,” an excellent article by Amy Harmon, who’s been covering DNA and genetics for quite some time.
What caught my attention is the fact that you can now “order” your own DNA to be unlocked. 23andMe, a new internet startup based in Mountain View, California, has started providing services to uncover your genome. In a nutshell, after you send them your spit, they extract your DNA and upload its information into a database, you can browse your genome to see what your particular DNA means for you.
While some of the information can be trivial - for example, whether you can digest milk or not, or are pre-disposed to like brussels sprouts and other bitter vegetables - you can also see if you’re likely to have a heart attack or develop Alzheimer’s. Most interesting to me, however, is the ability to compare your DNA to that of humans all over the planet and see what DNA bits you share with others, ultimately tracing your ancestry to many generations ago.
The reason I thought this topic was appropriate here is because puts the issue of choice in the spotlight: do we have a choice about anything, or are we merely slaves to our DNA? My position on this question has been that the choices we make occur within context, and our bodies (whether its our DNA or the chemical makeup of our brain at this very moment) are part of this context. So is the environment in which we find ourselves, and a host of other things. In short, everything that makes up what we refer to as “reality.” Fundamentally, however, I believe that we have a choice, that is the ability to take action even if it means “feeling bad” in the short term (or even long).
For example, I am addicted to cigarettes. I love them. You can give me all the reasons it’s bad to smoke, and I’d agree; I just choose to keep smoking. The danger I see in being able to peer into your genetic makeup is that it will give people the illusion that they have no choice: “I can’t stop smoking because I’m genetically predisposed to addiction.” While I concede that you may be genetically predisposed to addiction, or anything else, I still feel that you have choice. My fear is that people will start using their DNA as an excuse to evade responsibility.
Incidentally, I see our ability of choice as a primary clue that we are more than the sum of our body parts; that we in fact possess a “soul.” From an evolutionary perspective, it makes no sense to me to have the ability to do things like suicide, or even less severe actions that ultimately don’t aid your survival. Why can we go against our nature? Or is that just part of human nature?
While I’m on the topic of evolution: it occured to me some time ago that - if I remember my Biology classes correctly - genetic mutation is one of the fundamental processes by which evolution occurs. How did genes and DNA come about to begin with; and why do molecular structures all of a sudden start displaying the ability to reproduce themselves (see the post “Inorganic Life in Space”).
Given all that, I would still instantly drop the $1000 23andMe charges. We have long ago abandoned living in harmony with nature and instead chosen to eat of the tree of knowledge; there’s no stopping it now.