The article also addresses how we will think, will we choose different mates?  Will the selection of partners we choose involve looking at the DNA of a potential partner to influence one's choice...what type of children would a couple want to bring in to the world and what DNA will they have...could be an issue with emotional involvement with one's imagepartner...gee I really love and care for this person, BUT, their DNA doesn't match up.."I'll be bringing a child in to the world that will have the potential of being bi-polar" for a simple example...so what do you do?  Does one bypass the emotional bond and make a decision to forego what they feel in their heart is a potential mate who will be a life time partner?  

One other scenario, will people lie about their DNA or simply go to a donor sperm bank to find what they are looking for with DNA so they can reproduce a sibling with the desired personality desired?  Will your lifetime potential mate be imagecompared to sperms and eggs at the donor bank?  Is there something a little bit inhuman about this process...well if you are from the same generation as myself, I think you might tend to agree that this entire scenario is ripping apart the human culture as we   have known it for years, but yet we can't ignore what is taking place as the technology continues to grow...how will your siblings choose their mates and what choices do they have at hand...does this make sense?  I guess you could still choose a mate and then opt for the sperm and egg bank as well, but it sure sounds like a cold and calculating process...and in my opinion it further impacts the emotion bonds we have as humans and tends to overshadow the compassion and love that basically makes the world go around...do we need to elevate to this level and make the process of choosing a mate a complicated and calculated process? 

On a story posted last week, there is technology out there for sale for $150,000 to create the DNA process and if the product is successful and many purchase, the price of a DNA sequence could have the imagepotential of reaching the $100.00 mark, along with the technology referenced in the article below...

My opinions only, but things are changing around us rapidly and we need to at least have an awareness and not count on being bliss in the future...bring on the counselors if we can find them...BD 

Long time readers know that I expect much more rapid advances in biotechnology because biological research is coming to resemble the computer industry with miniature lab devices designed for low cost mass manufacture and automated use. The devices operate on biological systems at the scale of individual cells and molecules. Here's another example of how much this trend cuts costs and speeds progress. Microfluidic devices will enable personal complete DNA sequencing for only $100.

It currently costs roughly $60,000 to sequence a human genome, and a handful of research groups are hoping to achieve a $1,000 genome within the next three years. But two companies, Complete Genomics and BioNanomatrix, are collaborating to create a novel approach that would sequence your genome for less than the price of a nice pair of jeans--and the technology could read the complete genome in a single workday. "It would have been absolutely impossible to think about this project 10 years ago," says Radoje Drmanac, chief scientific officer at Complete Genomics, which is based in Mountain View, CA.

FuturePundit: $100 Human Genome Sequencing Within Sight?

Source:  http://scienceroll.com/2008/04/26/personalized-genetics-towards-the-100-genome/

1 comments :

  1. Good perspective on how this impacts our future. I'm too old to worry about it as I have been married for over 30 years, but the grandkids probably won't escape. I could care less about my DNA as it's too old to be of any use to anyone. This is all ok for taking care of our health but damn it sure takes the spice out of life.

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