This summer, the 10th anniversary of the decoding of the human genome was marked with cautious optimism. Even Nicholas Wade, The New York Times’s typically sanguine science writer, said that the biomedical objectives of genomics remain “largely elusive.” If the therapeutic utility of the genome is somewhat intangible, the social life of DNA is unmistakable.
A defining aspect of the coming decade, the social life of DNA, signals the growing presence of genetic science in both predictable and unforeseen sites. Genetic analysis may indeed lead to personalized medicine. Yet it will also mediate identification, community formation, and citizenship. Justice and restitution will continue to be sought via the rungs of the double helix, as the Innocence Project and recent slavery-reparations suits make clear. Moreover, DNA will become a social lingua franca, standing in for a range of ideas and aspirations—including destiny, progress, well-being, memory, beauty, and truth.
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