[ExI] 23andme again

[Mirco Romanato]

Il 26/06/2013 01:09, spike ha scritto:

> Zowwie, 23andMe has put me into a hell of an ethical dilemma, or
> perhaps more accurately, I have put myself in an ethical dilemma.
> Advice or comment from ethical hipsters most welcome.

> Background:  inside of two weeks, I have discovered a second 
> illegitimacy in my own ancestry.  We knew from family tradition that
> one of our great great grandfathers was an illegitimate born in about
> 1855, so that branch of the tree came to an end, and has been a dead
> end for over a century: no one knew who his bio father was.  I
> compared notes with a 23andMe cousin, and between us we figured out
> the likely candidate.  Hey, it was 1855, in a town three hours from
> anything, with a total population of 200 people.  In those kinds of
> places, after dark there is nothing to do.  I was delighted to know
> this of course, and to be the first in the family to discover it.


> Ethical dilemma: do I tell her?

Some guidance from the Bible?

> 1 Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that
> they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his
> disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the
> Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2There is nothing concealed that will
> not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 3What you
> have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you
> have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from
> the roofs.

If the infos the young lady is looking for are available freely (as in
beer and speech) you do nothing wrong revealing them to her.
No more than someone reading a phone book at the request of someone
unaccustomed to reading them to find an address and a name.

It is there, you just know how to look for numbers and addresses and
turn out a name associated to these.

You also have a good reason to tell her: she should know who her cousins
are so she is able to decide if and how connect to them in the proper way.

The father have the right to refuse to connect with his children; no one
have the right or the power to force him. But he is not entitled to have
others to keep its secrets for him.

What the young lady must understand is the truth can enable her to make
informed decisions and could satisfy her curiosity, but there is no
guarantee it will make her life better.

Mirco