Michael Regilio
speaker
2,071 appearances
9 recordings
1 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard 12 Jul
Michael Regilio’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 3 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.
Appearances
Yeah. You know, if he's working that hard, maybe he could use a clone of himself. But look back to the ethical questions like the genetic counseling, which could arise as we enter this brave new world, that could turn easily into eugenics. And eugenics, in case anyone doesn't know, is an attempt to create a superior gene pool.
And it is widely condemned as racist, ableist and in violation of human rights. And if you needed any more evidence that it's a bad idea, the most famous champions of eugenics were, of course, the Nazis.
Right. And I don't know if this company is a sponsor, but I have to say my jaw was on the ground when I first saw a commercial for a company that has a product called Eugenics. Eugenics. So definitely eugenics. Bad. Don't even talk about it. So personalized medicine.
Look, as we head into this brave slash weird new world, personalized medicine could then eventually equal one quality of care for the rich and another one for the poor. You mean like health care is right now in America, basically? True. And here's a really scary one. How about biological weapons that target individuals? Whoa, that's sci-fi crazy talk. Is that actually possible?
That's actually, yeah, that's a real possibility. And the idea here is to use DNA to create weapons that exploit the genetic differences between ethnicities. Obviously, most weapons research is secret, but rest assured, DNA targeting as a weapon of war is something that's being developed.
Let's take a little break from the dark stuff and talk about the fun aspects of DNA. Figuring out who our great-grandparents banged.
In fact, tracing the old family tree through home genetic tests is so fun that it's a $3 billion a year industry.
Oh, yeah. I mean, that's what DNA does. It's uncovering family secrets. In fact, there's a really interesting story. There's an actress, Kerry Washington, and she tells this really heartwarming story of when she was asked to be on the show Finding Your Roots.
Yeah. So was asked to be on the show. And as such, she needed her parents to also take a DNA test. And her parents freaked out. She comes to find out that her father couldn't have children and her parents used a sperm donor, but never told her. Ah, OK.
No, actually, the way she tells it, it's like it strengthened her relationship with her father as she realized that her dad really wanted to be her dad. Like he chose to go through the hurdles and emotions of using a sperm donor. It actually made her feel closer to him. So it's a sweet story. Yes, but DNA home tests aren't all sweet stories as we've talked about. There are so many concerns.
Yeah, for sure. Although the Affordable Care Act... A.K.A. Obamacare? Yes, Obamacare, makes it illegal for health insurance companies to deny you coverage or charge a different rate, they can still ask about the health of a customer. But health insurance isn't the only insurance, or even the only institution interested in what's in a person's genetic code. Like life insurance, I'm guessing? Sure.
And there's also disability insurance, not to mention banks might be very curious about the health of the person they're about to give a loan to.
Okay, so these companies are aware of these threats. In fact, in 2018, MyHeritage.com experienced a breach affecting email addresses and passwords, but not genetic data, thanks to their separation practices. That is to say, the customer's name and information is in a different database as the genetic information.
Genetic testing companies claim they all take extra care to separate the customer's identity from their genetic information. But once it's in the customer's hands, the onus is on you to protect it.
Yeah, here's the thing, Jordan. You could never take a genetic test and your genetic info could still get out there. How? How is that possible? Because you're not the only one walking around with this hereditary data in your cells. Everyone you're related to has the same info to varying degrees.
Yeah, or how about a sibling who has the exact same two parents and therefore the exact same hereditary information? You can learn a lot about someone by studying relatives' DNA. Just ask the Golden State Killer. That's how they nabbed him. They found a close relative of his through a genetic database and found him almost immediately.
Yeah. In fact, prospective employers might also like to know who they're about to offer the big job to. Is he a notorious most wanted serial killer or not? Or just is he going to get really sick in the next couple of years and maybe he's not the guy to give the job to? This is scary stuff. It's almost like having a crystal ball. It's definitely not something that you want out there in the world.
It is private information. So brave slash weird new world. Brave old world, too, because genealogists can now trace our earliest ancestors diaspora from Africa to the furthest corners of the world. Turns out that we didn't need written records of the ancient past. The story of the human species is written in our DNA. That's how scientists discovered mitochondrial Eve.
I love that joke. Mitochondrial Eve refers to the most recent common ancestor of all living humans traced through maternal lineage. A single woman estimated to have lived in Africa around 200,000 years ago. And because mitochondria is only passed through the mother, we can trace everyone's existence back to this one woman.
See, it's even written in the DNA of our hominid brothers and sisters that didn't make it. So I was going to make a joke about dump poor 40 out. Okay, never mind.
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