For $5,000.00USD, you can get your entire DNA chain mapped — and it will reveal the very essence of who you are and what makes you. 


Do you want to know your DNA for that price?  Would you want to know if the price were free? 

Are you tempting the fate of the Gods by using science and technology to replace the Death of the old God?

Such a price [$5,000.00] would represent another step toward the long-sought
goal of the “$1,000 genome.” At that price point it might become
commonplace for people to obtain their entire DNA sequences, giving
them information on what diseases they might be predisposed to or what
drugs would work best for them.

“It’s a shockingly low price,”
said George M. Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard who is an
adviser to Complete Genomics and to several other sequencing companies.

Then again, the cost of DNA sequencing has dropped by a factor
of 10 every year for the last four years, a faster rate of decline than
even for computers, Dr. Church said.

Even though science can, and will, eventually reveal every secret of the world — do we want to know those unknowns? 

Can we handle the truth of the discovery of the scientific process — or do we need the protection of the dark unknowing?

Are we inherently brittle to breaking or strong against bending? 

Having our DNA chains broken down will reveal those weaknesses and strengths — and the law must quickly attend to the rising rush of scientific discovery to protect the process from undue interference from the meek, and to promise the revelations of the strong will not wound the genetically inferior or punish those with small bumps or medium breaks in their DNA that makes them more vulnerable to those with superior chains.

It may be anti-evolutionary to protect the weak from their inherent ills and weaknesses, but science demands our willingness to leap ahead of our internals to proactively help those less able to help themselves — because the more we learn about each other — the less secrets there are to tell.

10 Comments

  1. ANNE – I live and teach on the upper West Coast of the United States. My interests are Philosophy, English, and Social Communication.
    ANNE says:

    I don’t think I want to know, David. It’s a lot of money. I guess if my doctor told me that it would help heal something inside me, it would be worth it. Would insurance cover it?

  2. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    That’s a great question, Anne! Would insurance pay for DNA sequencing to see if you really needed an operation or not? Right now, they won’t because it will be too expensive, but as the price falls, they’ll likely require it before providing any services at all in the future.

  3. Kathakali Chatterjee – Hyderabad, India – Professionally, I have an interesting concoction of experience -- from entertainment industry to retailing to executive education -- the journey is still on. When I don't work, I love to travel, read, listen to music and watch movies.
    Kathakali Chatterjee says:

    Hi David,
    I would go for it. It’s better to be alert about my own system – leads to a healthy life!

  4. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    I like your thinking, Katha! I’m learning prevention is important to dealing with serious health issues.

  5. Kathakali Chatterjee – Hyderabad, India – Professionally, I have an interesting concoction of experience -- from entertainment industry to retailing to executive education -- the journey is still on. When I don't work, I love to travel, read, listen to music and watch movies.
    Kathakali Chatterjee says:

    Hi David,
    You are right, prevention is always better.
    Tell me something – did you change the taglines in the header for all your blogs?
    It looks different…I think I am slightly late to notice it – as usual!

  6. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    You have an exceptional eye for detail, Katha! I’ve been playing around with the tagline on this site to try to make it clearer and more focused. I haven’t changed any of the taglines on any of the other blogs.

  7. Kathakali Chatterjee – Hyderabad, India – Professionally, I have an interesting concoction of experience -- from entertainment industry to retailing to executive education -- the journey is still on. When I don't work, I love to travel, read, listen to music and watch movies.
    Kathakali Chatterjee says:

    Yeah, I didn’t realise it unless the smooth reading got a slight bump – why “against?”
    You had the same tagline in the Wordpunk since its inception? Then it’s my mistake.

  8. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Good questions, Katha. I haven’t changed the WordPunk tagline since it started. Some blog templates publish the tagline and others do not so the taglines may have gone missing in the past.
    I decided yesterday to try “against” because it has more drama and conflict than just having the technology sitting there doing nothing. Do you have a better idea? Was there a previous tagline you liked better?

  9. Kathakali Chatterjee – Hyderabad, India – Professionally, I have an interesting concoction of experience -- from entertainment industry to retailing to executive education -- the journey is still on. When I don't work, I love to travel, read, listen to music and watch movies.
    Kathakali Chatterjee says:

    Hi David,
    Yes, that’s it! I might have missed the tagline for Wordpunk – I guess.
    I like the second one better – I will let you know if I think of something else!

  10. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    I appreciate your feedback, Katha. Yes, the WordPunk tagline has not changed a word since I started it a year ago. The RelationShaping tagline has changed several times to try to be clear and precise as the blog evolves.

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