As we develop “perfect knowledge” of whole-planet genetics, the ability to manipulate DNA, to “edit’ life, to engineer evolution, will grow exponentially. Obviously, the consequences, intended and unintended, will be profound. 

In Dawn Field’s new Aeon piece, one of my favorite essays of the year, the author wonders about a landscape of nights brightened by glowing trees, pigs nurtured to possess human organs for transplantation and a potential consolidated genetic registry. Diseases may be wiped out but so likely will any remnant of privacy. The idea of “bespoke creatures” may be discomfiting, but the author believes we should probably be more worried about the species we’re eliminating with climate change and other irresponsible behaviors. Lots of small, interesting facts (“Kuwait recently introduced mandatory DNA testing of its entire population as an anti-terrorism measure”) support an acute big-picture understanding.

An excerpt:

By 2020, many hospitals will have genomic medicine departments, designing medical therapies based on your personal genetic constitution. Gene sequencers – machines that can take a blood sample and reel off your entire genetic blueprint – will shrink below the size of USB drives. Supermarkets will have shelves of home DNA tests, perhaps nestled between the cosmetics and medicines, for everything from whether your baby will be good at sports to the breed of cat you just adopted, to whether your kitchen counter harbours enough ‘good bacteria’. We will all know someone who has had their genome probed for medical reasons, perhaps even ourselves. Personal DNA stories – including the quality of the bugs in your gut– will be the stuff of cocktail party chitchat.

By 2025, projections suggest that we will have sequenced the genomes of billions of individuals. This is largely down to the explosive growth in the field of cancer genomics. Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, became one of the early adopters of genomic medicine when he had the cancer that killed him sequenced. Many others will follow. And we will become more and more willing to act on what our genes tell us. Just as the actress Angelina Jolie chose to undergo a double mastectomy to stem her chances of developing breast cancer, society will think nothing of making decisions based on a wide range of genes and gene combinations. Already a study has quantified the ‘Angelina Jolie effect’. Following her public announcement, the number of women turning to DNA testing to assess their risk for familial breast cancer doubled.

For better or worse, we will increasingly define ourselves by our DNA.•