Consumer DNA tests revealing misattributed parentage

Post by st26 » Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 5:10 AM UTC

crumbshot wrote: post #42

rjdagost wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The French government claims that fatherhood is determined by society, and not biology. That is a very unscientific law.

> The French government claims that fatherhood is determined by society It is. A child does not need to be genetically related to their parents. Adoption is a common practice.

Post by darawk » Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 5:13 AM UTC

mirimir wrote: post #51

darawk wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point is that the idea that you can't deny reality is false. Governments do it all the time, very successfully, for long periods of time. If the argument is "Western, liberal democracies cannot deny reality for an extended period of time", you're probably closer to making a correct statement, but still false. See: Gulf of Tonkin, Lusitania. You might say "But we know the truth of those incidents!", but of course,…

OK, sure. But France can't prevent DNA testing. And I wonder, what is it such an issue in France? I wonder if rates of misattributed paternity are higher there.

Post by vkou » Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 6:23 AM UTC

rjdagost wrote: post #7

londons_explore wrote: post #2

Some countries, like for example France, make DNA tests pretty much illegal to prevent discovering painful truths like this.

The French government claims that fatherhood is determined by society, and not biology. That is a very unscientific law.

Post by kukx » Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 7:13 AM UTC

tanbog wrote: post #5

dm8 wrote: post #3

There was an interesting thread on reddit where people were sharing their experiences with DNA tests and their parentage/ancestry. I was surprised with sheer number of them being listed/shared there. I never considered DNA tests will have such a weird side effects. It's a fascinating to see how much science or scientific tests in future can lead to weird results (not that I'm condoning cheating or anything) - Thread…

Maybe part of the issue is an over-emphasis on "fidelity". People have always played around - or to be frank, many women have been assaulted and had to keep it quiet - maybe the best outcome would be more open communication and understanding between couples rather than even more prescriptive social norms about how relationships should work.

Post by icelancer » Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 7:35 AM UTC

syshum wrote: post #23

apo wrote: post #20

... “This generation right now and maybe the next 15 years or so, there’s going to be a lot of shocking results coming out. I’d say in 20 years’ time it’s going to dissipate,” she predicted. By then, our expectations of privacy will have caught up with the new reality created by the rise of consumer DNA tests. This reminds me of a discussion in which people were speculating about things that would not exist in the fu…

One can not have freedom with out privacy. As we destroy the concept of privacy we also destroy the concept of freedom. It will be interesting how civilization handles it. We are starting to see some signs of push back, but unfortunely people are turning to governments and authoritarianism as a "solution". IMO we are at at fork in civilization, and it seems we are choosing the less free, less private path