OK, just heard yet another commercial for this. Am I the only one just a tad creeped out by this?

Seems like many of the commercials are geared tword the Millenials or the younger crowd. They're all giddy to find out they are 1/1000th Upper Mongolian sheep hearder, but seem to miss the point (to me at least) that someone is mining data on them and their future offspring. Something with this whole thing just seems a "bit off" to me.

Plus, it still makes me laugh my ass off that the most "inclusive" seem so eager to catagorize everyone. Whats wrong with just enjoying you and your family for what they are? So if you find out you have a gene that predisposes you to something BAD...then what? Live your life forever under a cloud of uncertainty?

I did it a few years ago, I found it quite interesting.

Yeah, I read the data disclosure thing and threw the kit away. Got it as a gift, so no loss.

Struck me as similar to Facebook crossed with Google, with your genetic info and a bunch of questionaire-info you provide, where you don't control where the data goes. What could possibly go wrong?

It's just a ploy to catch serial killers. (The dumb ones)

I did it two or three years ago. It's pretty interesting to find out your background. Lots of folks base their background on family lore - which isn't always accurate.

My sister did it (or one similar) and tried to talk me into it.

I admit to being intrigued, but not enough so that I want my DNA in some company's hands to do with what they will.

It's only a matter of time before insurance companies (and who knows who else) get their grubby little mitts on the information.

Indeed....

Pretty soon genetic info will be commoditized like internet browser search history data

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
My sister did it (or one similar) and tried to talk me into it.

I admit to being intrigued, but not enough so that I want my DNA in some company's hands to do with what they will.

It's only a matter of time before insurance companies (and who knows who else) get their grubby little mitts on the information.

I'm waiting for the '24 and Me' version.

quote:

Originally posted by entropy: Whats wrong with just enjoying you and your family for what they are?

Well sure, if you know who your family members are. Some people have done it and found close blood relatives for the first time.

I haven't done 23 and Me, but I have done FTDNA, which is a similar product. DNA testing and analysis is a great genealogical tool.

flashguy

Being that my paternal and maternal families both have very well documented histories it just confirmed what we already knew. I think Mom wanted to find an anomaly so she could research it.

I did a DNA kit on one of my dogs, that's about as far as I am interested in going.

The only one I'm interested in sharing my DNA with says I'm too old for that nonsense. Of course she's always right...most of the time.

quote:

Originally posted by nighthawk:
I did a DNA kit on one of my dogs, that's about as far as I am interested in going.

Did he find out he was really a cat?

I'm not against doing it. I understand for some with unknown backgrounds that it could really help discover who you are. I'm just against what the folks that run it are doing with the info. Tin foil aside, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a front for something else. Letting people have access to the most intimate details of your being is just creepy to me.

Now it's time to finish my coffee and go sit up in a tree with a gun waiting for antlered creatures to pass by. I guess mine would show I am predisposed to being an idiot.

Different company (Ancestry DNA), but I'm a little perplexed by the woman who found out she's 26% Native American. There's nothing wrong with that. But to be 26% whatever - one quarter - means one grandparent was whatever , right? How would you not know that already?

I took the test to find that my DNA was not of this Earth. Now I spend my time hiding from Federal agents who want to vivisect me.

Just because I can set fires with my mind.

My results were disturbing

I found SIGmonkey is my cousin 136,643,456 removed.

I am also 1x10^-387% Mongolian Sheep.

 
I recall when this company was first formed ten years ago. At the time, the founder was married to Sergey Brin, of Google fame. Shortly thereafter, Google poured a bunch of money (millions) into this company. I would be a bit paranoid about my genetic info being out there anyway, as Gustofer mentions, but even more so if the principal(s) of the company were closely associated with Google.
 

My wife & I did Ancestry.com DNA. & she also did 23 and me because she did not believe the Ancestry.com results.
My wife who thought she was 3/4 Armenian & 1/4 Russian, showed NO eastern European. 23 and me produced similar results, no eastern European, but Italian, Southern European, & Ashkenazi. The Armenian results were as expected.
Ancestry.com linked me to others & I was able to extend my family history to arrival in Roanoke, VA in the 1630's. I have thousands of DNA linked cousins in the US.

quote:

But to be 26% whatever - one quarter - means one grandparent was whatever , right? How would you not know that already?

Not necessarily as you get 50% from each parent, but not necessarily 25% of each grandparent. It depends on what 50% you got of your each parents 100%. And there is always the woodpile!