How Identity Evolves in the Age of Genetic Imperialism
        
            By Eleonore Pauwels and Jim Dratwa, 
                Scientific American
             | 03. 13. 2015
        
                    
                                    
                    
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                            
                              
    
  
  
    
  
          
  
      
    
            From designer babies to women whose genitals smell like peaches,   2014 graced us with a taste of the hope, hype and superficiality of   business as usual in Silicon Valley. It is tempting to listen to those   who tell us that there is a gene-hack to solve every “problem”—that DNA   is just a code to personalize at will.
 
  This brand of genetic determinism has invaded all realms of life,   from our dating scene to our social networks. 23andMe genetic-test   results flourish on Facebook and OkCupid. Better still, the online-dating platform SingldOut matches partners based on the personality traits supposedly determined by their DNA. Even a recent study from Yale University concluded that our friends resemble us   genetically. To cap it off, a subfield of political science now studies   the heritability of temperamental and personality traits,   which influence political values and decision-making. This becomes more   sobering when one considers that scientists at Mount Sinai Hospital in   New York are investigating the genetic cause of suicide in the hope of developing suicide DNA tests.
 
  This is politics, love and death...
 
       
 
  
 
    
    
  
   
                        
                                                                                
                 
                                                    
                            
                                  
    
  
  
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