23andMe's Fall

Post by YetAnotherNick » Thu, Feb 01, 2024, 3:07 PM UTC

bart_spoon wrote: post #241

YetAnotherNick wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VC logic is that 5% of the companies they invest in returns 100x their investment in those. So even if 95% of the companies never manages to break even they are still profitable.

VC logic is that a company does not need to be profitable for a VC’s investment to be profitable. Simply getting the company to an expensive IPO is all that is required for VCs to make money. And that is possible even if the company has never made a dime.

Post by justinclift » Thu, Feb 01, 2024, 7:07 PM UTC

ilamont wrote: post #77

This is a damning indictment of Wojcicki's management of the company. Failed execution on the drug development strategy over 10+ years, lying about growth, pushing out the cofounder, never making a profit, hack that went undiscovered for months ... about the only area she's had success is raising money and that's in large part thanks to being a member of the Silicon Valley elite. If she can't convince her family, fri…

Post by infinitezest » Thu, Feb 01, 2024, 11:32 PM UTC

Analemma_ wrote: post #154

samtho wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Federally, health insurers cannot use this data under GINA[0] and SB41[1] in California requires explicit permission be granted by the customer in order for the data to be shared with 3rd parties. In general, however, insurance companies are going to be reluctant to trust this information as it’s not established that it has real medical value outside the handful of markers we’ve clearly identified. [0]: https://medli…

Oh, it's against the law! Well that's ok then, companies never break laws. In reality, there will be (and probably already is) an impenetrable web of "data aggregators" buying genome data from other aggregators who are buying it from still other aggregators, so that the info will be thoroughly laundered by the time it actually gets to the insurance company to hike your premiums. This both obscures its true origin and…

Post by samatman » Fri, Feb 02, 2024, 12:35 AM UTC

txru wrote: post #274

samatman wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a lot of information, but it is in no sense a complete genome. It does mean that someone who had that information could prove that your DNA belonged to a child of your mom and dad with high accuracy, or that you were a sibling of your sister. It also reveals that you don't have certain mutations, or that you do have a few. But where your parents have different SNPs, there's no way to derive which of them you i…

When people describe DNA as PII, I don't think they imagine being involuntarily cloned (yet..), I think they're imagining heritable conditions becoming public information through data leaks. People have a right to privacy from imprecise yet correct information about themselves. Someone wouldn't want to explain an abusive parent to a prospective employer, but they could see a strong tendency to, schizophrenia, with DN…

Post by astrange » Sat, Feb 03, 2024, 12:17 PM UTC

DarknessFalls wrote: post #259

astrange wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's kind of what I mean by it not being worth much though. Sure, leaks are embarrassing - the most common issue here is finding out that your dad isn't your real dad. But it's not useful for evil purposes because it's not /accurate/. It doesn't reveal all that much real additional information about your ancestry and health! Since it's decided before you're born: 1. its effects are mostly already expressed and peop…

Strongly disagree. Through 23andme, I was able to confirm that I have the mutation for the MTHFR gene, which explained why my vitamin B12 always ran low. Once I started supplementing with the methylated form of B12 and folic acid, I noticed a huge improvement in how I felt vs when I used cyanocobalamin for B12. Not to mention some very interesting side effects, like improved tolerance for caffeine.