It's an art-quality print made from your dna (well, not actually YOURS, but somebody's...unless you want to pay ~$400). But you get the idea. If not, click here. But it got me thinking, about a lot of things:
We started Beyond Real Time to share a discussion about the impact of technology on society and culture. Then ended up--so far at least--mostly wonking about computer stuff. But genomics (wetware) is going to make an even bigger change in humanity than computers (software/hardware) over any substantial stretch of time.
I know, I know, we couldn't have decoded the genome without substantial computational horsepower But at the level of bodies, not minds, genomics will trump software engineering. Bet on it.
One way to tell that any given technology has permeated society, gone into the woodwork if you will, is when it starts getting used for "trivial" applications. Decorative fillips, lifestyle accessories. DNA analysis is obviously just about there.
And who "owns" that information? Who controls access to it? How many (unintended, potentially malicious) ways can/will that infornmation be used downstream? The dynamic of Western techno-culture is essentially run on the "if we can do it we will do it" principle.
Do you really want your DNA in the same bucket as your credit history?
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