[ExI] 23andSingularity

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Sun, Jul 7, 2013 at 10:48 AM, spike <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:
>
> Ja, so here's my idea, a remarkably simple one.  23andMe has all these
> genetic profiles which they sell to medical insurance companies which allow
> the companies to cherry pick the most profitable profiles, even to include
> some clients which never had their DNA tested.  Reasoning: some of our most
> expensive diseases are quite unlikely in an offspring if neither parent has
> the genetic marker.  23andMe could infer the offspring are at a low risk,
> sell the info to insurance companies for profit.
>
> OK, so now we can do the same trick, only better.  We can figure out which
> diseases we are genetically predisposed to escape, then use that info to get
> the insurance companies to offer us discounts.  That way, we win on health
> insurance costs if we won the genome lottery.
>
> Here's another one for you.  Suppose there is some known disease which is
> associated with two particular markers.  If you have one of the markers, you
> have about a 2x risk, if you have both, about an 8x risk.  The insurance
> company wants to charge you a premium for that risk.  You, being an internet
> hipster, look into that particular disease and learn that while true, your
> having both markers makes you 8x more at risk, you also need to compensate
> by noting your current age.  If the condition in question ordinarily
> presents at age 10 to 15, then by age 50, if one still shows no signs of the
> disease, the likelihood is low.
>
> In some cases, such as scoliosis, once the patient is finished growing,
> there is no further risk of developing the condition.  It is too easy to
> imagine insurance companies charging a fully grown adult client a premium
> for having a genetic predisposition to scoliosis.  The hip patient could use
> knowledge to fight back and get a better deal.
>
> We could set up a system where we are professional advocates for patients
> dealing with insurance companies.  It would be like an accountant hired by a
> client to deal with the IRS, only the insurance company doesn't have the
> authority to have you thrown in prison indefinitely.  A new industry can
> emerge here.

### The use of genetic information for insurance purposes is already
illegal in the US. For some reasons, the current crop of leftists
despise genetics, and I expect that they will expend a considerable
amount of effort to thwart the activities you describe above.

Actually, I wonder what is their problem? Obviously, the ability to
foresee life outcomes (health, income, crime), and personal
characteristics (honesty, psychopathy) based on genetic testing would
be highly useful on both an individual and a societal level, since it
would allow discrimination between actions that differ in their
efficiency. For example, gamete trading as well as zygote choice could
be dramatically better in terms of generating healthy offspring.
Hiring for high-trust, high-impact jobs (judge, senator, CEO, mayor)
could more efficiently exclude dangerous bets. In the not-too-distant
future, personal genomics could eventually lead to eugenic
improvement....oops, I just realized I used two taboo words in one
paragraph, I'd better end here...

Puzzling.

Rafal