Image credit: Vikrum Lexicon
Manu Sporny reflects on one week of being in the public domain in terms of personal genomics. I already pulled down his data, as has Zack. The whole post is fascinating, but this is really interesting: “I found out that it’s illegal to send any of your genetic material outside of Russia to have it analyzed.” In a related vein, seen Dr. Daniel MacArthur’s When “Cautious” Means “Useless.” I know that 23andMe is a for-profit business in it to make money for its backers, but there are certainly huge social spillover effects among my set in its bringing 500,000 to 1 million markers to the masses. It’s a clear concrete case of how innovation can result in positive gains across society. I am not a knee-jerk libertarian, but your genetic data is your genetic data. Own it, analyze it, and claim it!
Razib Khan’s degrees are in biochemistry and biology. He has blogged about genetics since 2002, previously worked in software development, is an Unz Foundation Junior Fellow and lives in the western US. He loves habaneros.
