Honestly I’ve never gotten the desire to do one of these things. You give away arguably the most uniquely valuable and private part of yourself to this company (or companies like it) to do god knows what with in exchange for these results that are (IMO) ultimately just unnecessary trivia about yourself.
I had in some ways the opposite 23&Me experience and goals. My parents told me growing up that I had some small native ancestry. This is actually a common myth many Americans have either been told or somehow deluded themselves into believing.
So I did the DNA testing (which I now regret from all the obvious enshittification and privacy reasons) to prove that my ancestry was boring and predictable. Which it was, no indigenous ancestry, just the expected European countries that my great grandparents came from.
They also do a lot of nice health screening things and I think that’s probably the much more valuable aspect of it. It really is very American that people are so much more concerned with what DNA says about one’s race or ethnicity than about their health and wellbeing.
I’m worried about insurance companies getting it and changing rates/services based on my DNA.
Told you so.
I haven’t found an article yet that can actually articulate the problem with 23 and me right now, and actually did research into it or even read the terms and service. The problem with 23 and me is that they are not maximizing the share holder value of the data they are sitting on. The CEO wants to keep the company in line with the principals they were founded on which is to protect the privacy and data of their customers, while using opt in studies to build data sets that can be studied or sold.
Investors want to enshittify the company, and have been organizing a campaign against to company to try to drive it into liquidation to buy the data, even though the company is profitable. I wouldn’t be surprised is they are funding these weekly omfg 23 and me bad articles.
That juicy data is going to get bought up by the health insurance industry. I would be surprised if they aren’t part of the push to force them to sell the data.
Maybe if I swab my mouth and send it off to a company, I’ll finally be interesting and people will like me.
puts letter down
…maybe not.
I’ve got to admit, I’ve wanted to do one of those tests just because my family is such a mix of “lol we don’t know.” Like, no really, what IS my maternal grandma? She does not look like the rest of her family and had a different family name from her siblings. And ok really, where DID my paternal great-grandmother who lied about her race so she could marry my great-grandfather back when “miscegenation” was illegal, come from? And WAS that great-grandpa biracial himself?
There’s a reason I call myself an ethnic Rorschach test, and I’d love to know why it is I am. But the rest of my family is against the idea of finding out because “it doesn’t matter” plus who knows how just data might be used one day.
the test isnt particularly meaningful. As I understand it they just test a handful of genes that they suspect were less varied in the past. As a result if you get tested through all the services that offer gene testing you will get different numbers for each one.
That’s the other big reason I’m hesitant - different tests can give totally different results, so who knows what’s “right”?
You can just do the test in secret, I guess. Just don’t tell anyone. But yeah, costs money of course.
There’s something hilarious about the author’s disappointment to find out they’re British, and nothing else.
Can’t say I blame them though.
I read the headline and went, “…I mean, what were you expecting?”
I don’t really subscribe to the whole race thing. Its a culture thing.
And even more important is the food. Can you cook me a traditional xyz meal? Delicious. I love that you’re xyz.
That’s just another reason to be disappointed to find out that you’re British.
Title is misleading, FTA:
Confirmation that I am 63% British and Irish, 17% Danish and otherwise “broadly north-western European”. I felt a resounding ambivalence about the results, including some disappointment that I had not discovered a newfound heritage – a piece of information that would give my identity new dimension.
But also:
My father’s side of the family is meticulous about tracking our ancestry, with records that hold the name of the exact small village in Ireland our ancestors hail from.
Those results often can’t narrow down to exact countries so it says he’s 63% British and Irish. Seeing as his fathers family has records of being from a small Irish town it’s likely he’s more Irish that British, not that it means anything if you’re actually American anyway.
This only tells you about your very recent ancestry, but go back enough generations are you are descended from everyone alive at the time who still has living decendants, just like everyone else.
We’re all Ethiopian
You are all individuals
All of us are neandthal too, and decendants of various ancient celebrities as well as all the forgotten commoners.
I am a technology journalist – I like to think I am thoughtful about what data I share with corporations.
My brother in Christ, if you are a tech journalist then you, out of all people, should know not to give ANY date to corporations. That is a massive fuckup regarding your job.
On this topic, I did ancestrydna long before I got concerned with my data and privacy. I have since deleted my data and had them destroy my physical sample as well (which took them a long time). But I wonder if the damage is done and even though they say they deleted and destroyed the sample how can I know for sure? Etc
I don’t know James Smith, from Phoenix, Arizona. Social security number 523-098-1322. Is your data safe?
Imagine how you’d freak out if I, by change, got it right.
What the hell?! You got mine right!
Not really, but it would have been cool. Also, socials are 9 digits in the US.
I still find it funny people think these tests mean anything. “you have these 7/9 genes in common with Jasper Brittania and are therefore 77% british”
Stories tend to disappear with the passing away of living memory. These tests are a hope to revive a story of where we came from. It doesn’t, obviously, but I can’t blame people for want.
Oh, don’t worry. If you hadn’t given it to them, one or ten of your fucking rellies did anyway and had no clue of the implications either.
I want to upvote this, but … Why did you have to shorten “relatives”?
I like it
Maybe Australian?
Maybe.
I’m only familiar with the term “BSc” from Red Dwarf, wherein it’s eventually revealed to mean “bronze swimming certificate”; however, from the context of the joke in the novel (and I think the show, don’t remember for sure), I assume it has some more impressive meaning in other uses.
Given the origins of that series, I was guessing British, but that doesn’t limit it much. My cultural ignorance is preventing me from forming a meaningful theory.
edit: I’m sorry, I thought this was a response to another comment I made, making my response 100% irrelevant. Please feel free to disregard.
edit 2: Though I guess the last line of my unedited comment still applies.
Bachelor of Science, however SSC doesn’t have a different meaning that I’m aware of.
Thank you for the information!
Also, I infer from your response that you also remember that part of Red Dwarf, which is awesome.
I love how they just smash “-ies” onto any word. I started using “sunnies” for sunglasses after hanging out with a few aussies.
Recreational DNA testing eventually led to discovering that I had never before met my biological father. Mom got it wrong. I met him and his family this summer finally. I am slightly irritated that my last name (and my child’s) is now kind of meaningless, and it’s too much of a hassle to change it.
Paternity testing should be done for every child. The child and father should have the same certainty that mothers have.
Even with my experience as a presumed father, and as a falsely-surnamed child, I disagree.
It’s okay to disagree. But many who would line to know can object only when it’s already too late.
The only thing I can imagine working is for a birth certificate when listing father, would have a selection of “presumed” or “verified”, where verified would have a doctor sign off. It should be optional. But it would be nice if a paternity test was presented as an option automatically, without needing suspicion or accusation.
That default to suspicion/accusation is why fathers don’t have real rights in this matter.
Completely agree.
I mean there so many videos like this https://youtube.com/shorts/FgzbCJYCBr8 that dude is devastated. Or this ‘classic’ https://youtube.com/shorts/qj0zsL68Ka8 or this or guy https://youtube.com/shorts/j3PWef89kPw
I could keep going, it’s not that hard videos like that’s and I wish it was.
Just for a pallet cleanser, look how happy this do is to find out that he is the father. https://youtube.com/shorts/PfRR5iKE70Q
Took me too long to realise that article is actually serious. I’d have sworn white people with huge ethnics fetish would show up as “Austrian painter” on their test, but I guess British works. Oh well 🇺🇸
You made me smile.
they’ve mostly got your genetics anyways if your brother did it
