The idea of computation is not new. By the mid-20th century science fiction writers were imagining a few, perhaps even only one, mega computer driving human civilization into the future. Obviously they were wrong. In the first decades of the 21st century computation has proliferated and dispersed; becoming ubiquitous, seamless, almost beneath notice.
This is the trajectory one might project for what we now term direct to consumer (DTC) or beyond the clinic genomics, the ancestor of what is likely to become a ubiquitous form of information technology in the coming decades.
DTC genomics in the domain of genetic genealogy can bridge the chasm between the abstruse inferences of population and phylogenetics, by reducing abstract scientific theory into a more human shape, relatable, palatable and compelling.
Read the full, original story: Rumors of the death of consumer genomics are greatly exaggerated
Related on the SLP
Additional Resources:
- Consumer Genetic Testing Company 23andMe Faces Its Own Test From the FDA, KQED
- The Future of Direct-to-Consumer Genetics, Psychology Today
