LRN No.7: your genes belong to them
LRN No.7: your genes belong to them
Plus: robot therapists
The last Little Red Notebook was about being genetically Jewish, and how I don’t feel any connection to Israel, despite my heritage. And here we are, two weeks later. I hope everyone feels a connection to Israel at the moment, regardless of their ethnicity, genes or culture.
On the same day as the Hamas attack, another story broke: there had been a hack at 23andMe, and the data of a million Ashkenazi Jews had been stolen and put up for sale online, in a targeted attack.
It was one of those stories that’s both shocking and entirely predictable. In an age when we say no to cookies and are wary of how Mark Zuckerberg sells information on our likes, we willingly give companies like AncestryDNA and 23andMe our entire genetic code. Even if they can be trusted today - which it seems they can’t - who knows which companies will buy them in the future? What will they decide to do with the information they have on us?
23andMe tried to reassure people with an email full of the usual yadda yadda telling people to change their passwords. But it seems the unexpected consequences of DNA testing might already have gone much further than I ever imagined when I started recording The Gift.
Tessa advised Maxwell to weigh herself every week at the same time of day, and to measure herself with measuring tape. “If you are interested in assessing your body composition, there are various methods available, including using skin fold callipers,” the bot said, adding that Maxwell could buy them online or at sports stores. This was worse than terrible advice for someone with a history of eating disorders.
I wrote a special report for The New Statesman on the rise of therapy chatbots. As we become used to having AI assistants help us write emails, essays, music and computer code, some people have also been turning to them to solve emotional problems. The demand for mental health support has exploded post-pandemic, and there’s been a gold rush of investment into therapy apps. Chatbots have entered a space that was once the inner sanctum of patients and their therapists. What could possibly go wrong?
Other things:
I made my debut at BBC Future with this piece on ethnicity and DNA
Was very happy to read this really thoughtful review of The Gift by Ruth Nugent, on Substack. “Why do we seek external validation of our identities?”
It’s always wonderful to speak to Mickey Noonan on the Standard Issue podcast (although she says she’s still losing sleep because of Sex Robots & Vegan Meat)
I loved this Long Read on how Michael Lewis didn’t quite know what to do with his front row seat on Sam Bankman-Fried’s downfall