Science Fiction As Reality
Gattaca is one of my favorite movies. The premise is simple, but chilling — in the future, your genes determine who you are and your status in society. Genetically inferior? Genetic discrimination is illegal, but no one can take the risk of hiring you for anything more than a janitor level position… So parents have their children genetically engineered to succeed from birth (called “valids”), and if you are one of the unlucky few natural births (also known as faith / god births, or “in-valids”), don’t expect to amount to much.
Today, for $1,000, a company called 23AndMe can now provide you with your genomic profile, including predispositions for diseases. 23AndMe (funded partly by Google) isn’t the only one — Navigenics provides a similar service. While it does remind many of the cautionary tale of Gattaca, like in the film, the benefits could be numerous.
Wired has a great article on 23AndMe and the Age of Genomics that’s worth reading, if you have the time. TechCrunch also has a post on 23AndMe, which mentions Google’s $3.9 million investment in the company. Google genetic index, anyone?
