23andme.com – User Review by jeremygin

I used to think 23andme and http://www.navigenics.com/ were a bit frivolous. Essentially, for a fee, these companies examine your DNA and tell you the likelihood that you may contract various genetic diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's etc. The trouble is, for the most part, you can't do much about them. You can change your lifestyle (exercise more, eat better, reduce stress, etc.), but we should all do these things anyway. And the stress of knowing that you have a 50% chance of dying of X may just stress you out enough that you now have an 80% chance of dying of X.

But Sergey Brin, a co-founder of Google and investor in 23andme, just changed my mind. He announced that he has a genetic predisposition for Parkinson's Disease. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/technology/19google.html

Mr. Brin is worth $15.9 billion. I would bet Mr. Brin is now seriously considering "investing" millions of dollars into Parkinson's Disease research that he might have otherwise spent on yachts, gulf streams, and other meaningless luxury items. Which leads me to the conclusion: if more rich people get their genes analyzed, we will have more paranoid rich people running around and investing in medical research that will benefit the rest of us. So market on, 23andMe and Navigenics - make the wealthy paranoid and generous for the good of mankind!

I disagree somewhat. I think people, given proper motivation, will change their lifestyle. So it may be true that we should all eat better, exercise more, and reduce stress, but if a physician tells you specifically that you are likely to die of X unless you exercise 5 days a week, I think a person would be more likely to exercise 5 days a week.