Genome

December 14, 1999

Two groups are separately racing to map the Human genome. One is the US Government, in the form of the Human Genome Project. The other is Celera, a private company who has filed for 6500 patents on what they have mapped so far. (See the link at the end) I've been following the genome project since 1992, and I'm still breathless about the possibilities.

Alas, as the goal gets nearer, long term scientific objectives get overshadowed by the short-term 'opportunities'. Celera's patents on human genetic information (you can just guess how I feel about that, can't you) are just the start. If you haven't seen Gattica yet, do so. It's a chilling view of the future, worse because it's so plausable. Like all distopias, it imagines a culture which has failed to completely adapt to some fundamental change. Stuck half-way, the society in Gattica has the technology to make genetics irrelevant, but can't bear to let go of the idea of 'perfection'. But human culture seems unable to avoid long-expected mistakes. Looks like the only way we understand that fire is hot, is to get burned.

And so there will be a decade of unethical misuse and insurance scandals and all the other kinds of things that happen when technological breakthroughs combine with money and greed. Don't let this turn you into a cynic, though. The advances will be real. The benefits palpable. What kind of benefits? Um, how about immortality? How about bringing back extinct species?

So, this is your notice. This is what you'll have to contend with in your lifetime:

  • Starting already, 'genetic markers' for everything from migraines to parkinsons are being 'discovered'. This will turn into a flood up until a few years after the project wraps up. 'Markers' are unreliable indicators that something might happen. Totally innacurate. But, since they're the best we currently have, they will be used. (and misused)
  • The privacy implications will kick in. Care for a random work drug-test which also includes a genetic marker profile? (at the company's discretion, and therefore also at the company's expense, and so becomes the company's property) and which you're not allowed to see?
  • Protein therapy, which treats the effects of a genetic disease by getting the body to make whatever it isn't, and stop whatever it does, by using protein keys in drugs to switch genes on and off. This is potentially the first of the long-term techs, once the entire map is available. Protein therapy is safe in proportion to the amount of knowledge and computing time you have. The more you know, the more computing time you can throw at checking the permutations (and you need a lot) the safer and surer it is.
  • Genetic Engineering, the real thing. Oh, sure, there are blue lobsters, and those guys who want to put genes from fireflies into christmas trees, but you ain't seen nothin' yet. How about converting the majority of the biosphere into information? Map the genome of every endangered species and every extinct animal you still have samples for! (the dodo, mammoth..) Hell, map everything else too! The human genome is 4Gb, uncompressed. You can probably fit a dozen species on a DVD, to be reborn at leisure. GE is about tailoring the DNA of an organism before kicking off the natural program sequence. That means making any kind of animal you have the 'source' for. As many of them as you want. Think about that. Consider how it affects Greenpeace and the Conservation effort, for example.
  • Gene therapy, which seeks to correct the source of the problem which Protein therapy only alleived. This involves changing the DNA in each cell using a virus or other vector - basically doing genetic engineering on a living organism. It's inherently dangerous, but very powerful. Unlike Protein therapy, you can make radical changes to the cell. But, you can't just stop taking the drug if something goes wrong. All-over body cancer, anyone? Though if you get it right, you can be immortal, so there's lots of incentive to try. Just don't ever join a beta-test program. :-/ And of course, if the changes affect reproductive cells, then those changes will be passed on to your children and eventually out into the population.

The important thing to remember about modern genetics is that it doesn't deal with some squishy ill-defined 'life' concept. It deals with cellular machinery and information coding theory. Our bodies are nature's own nanotechnology. And recently, we've gotten the tools to open up the little cellular machines and see how they tick. (or go Spuh! as the case may be) Soon, we can build machines of our own. Consider our history: Once upon a time, we looked up at the birds and badly wanted to fly. So we built hypersonic Concordes from heat-treated aluminium. Wheee!

More background: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,32076,00.html