What's it like getting your DNA results back from 23andMe • Hacker News Board

Re: What's it like getting your DNA results back from 23andMe

#51

Post by radu_floricica » Thu, Feb 24, 2011, 6:53 AM UTC

axod wrote: post #40

randallsquared wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems crazy to be curious about your genes? Could you elaborate on why?

Few reasons... * I don't think the tech is mature enough to be 100% reliable * It'll probably just worry people more than anything. * Doctors are trained. Some guy getting this thing isn't. I think it's a hypercondriacs dream.

Well, for example:

  * It's fun. It really is. Even the part about the Parkinson, after you get over it.
  * You're pretty much subsidizing a new industry.
  * There is a chance you can actually use this. Either if you actually 
    have a rare disease gene, or if you're a carrier.

In any case, I intend to take a printout to my next medical visit.

Re: What's it like getting your DNA results back from 23andMe

#52

Post by axod » Thu, Feb 24, 2011, 7:25 AM UTC

radu_floricica wrote: post #51

axod wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Few reasons... * I don't think the tech is mature enough to be 100% reliable * It'll probably just worry people more than anything. * Doctors are trained. Some guy getting this thing isn't. I think it's a hypercondriacs dream.

Well, for example: * It's fun. It really is. Even the part about the Parkinson, after you get over it. * You're pretty much subsidizing a new industry. * There is a chance you can actually use this. Either if you actually have a rare disease gene, or if you're a carrier. In any case, I intend to take a printout to my next medical visit.

> In any case, I intend to take a printout to my next medical visit.

I'm sure doctors hate this. I'm of the opinion we should leave trained professionals to do their job.

Re: What's it like getting your DNA results back from 23andMe

#53

Post by radu_floricica » Thu, Feb 24, 2011, 5:12 PM UTC

axod wrote: post #52

radu_floricica wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, for example: * It's fun. It really is. Even the part about the Parkinson, after you get over it. * You're pretty much subsidizing a new industry. * There is a chance you can actually use this. Either if you actually have a rare disease gene, or if you're a carrier. In any case, I intend to take a printout to my next medical visit.

> In any case, I intend to take a printout to my next medical visit. I'm sure doctors hate this. I'm of the opinion we should leave trained professionals to do their job.

Hate?! Trust me, I have no intention of pestering him/her with every minute detail of the chart. But I do know I have a (somewhat) higher risk for prostate cancer in advanced age, and I sure want to have a talk with him about ways to mitigate it. I was under the impression that is pretty much his job...

But I think I understand a bit of what you mean. For example, my results lists obesity at "normal", with a whopping 60% chance. Same way, one slightly raised chance of a certain disease may not mean much when compared to a host of other illnesses with much higher baseline chances. As it happens though, prostate cancer is already high on the list, so I do intent to fully make use of the information.

Re: What's it like getting your DNA results back from 23andMe

#54

Post by tibbon » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 7:43 PM UTC

Sticker wrote: post #49

prawn wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps that they feel white/boring and that their lineage traces to more of the same. An Asian person might not be particularly excited to learn that their ancestors trace back through China. Candidate one, however, might be more intrigued to find ancestry tracing through Northern Africa, or candidate through India - just guessing.

correct, I believe that was the obvious point he was trying to make. The political correctness that is a problem is that you can't say 'white/boring' without offending someone like the person you responded to.

Right on. When I got those results it just confirmed, "hmm, looks like my 5th grade genealogy project was right. I am from Germany and England afterall!"

It isn't to say that us white people are boring, but just that there was nothing novel in that part of the results. It was about as exciting as the genetic test in there that confirmed I have brown eyes. If it said I had blue eyes, it would have been interesting news to me.