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by antegamisou 447 days ago
You are not speaking from a position of a grifter though. I don't think it's a stretch that some YC funded startup could emerge and claim that they can map and predict everyone's entire actions/personalities/characteristics through their genome, heavily misinterpreting PGS/GWAS.

I don't think they would care much for scientific validity in this case. It won't matter to them if the methods used are reliable. All they'll get is appraisal from mainstream media for their revolutionary approach, further ingraining social darwinism.
1 comments
johnnyanmac 447 days ago
>It won't matter to them if the methods used are reliable.

the method of being a fortune-teller? I don't see how that would ever be reliable unless we figure out voodoo kinds of tricks attacking the nervous system.

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antegamisou 447 days ago
Phrenology thrived and was heavily celebrated only one century ago as well.

In the case of PRS assessment where it's already an established discipline, and not at all as unreliable as fortune-telling, it wouldn't be so hard to weaponize it.

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johnnyanmac 447 days ago
Astrology isn't much farther off, and some still like to believe it to this day. Yes, even some very smart people can fall into absolutely baseless conjecture without peers to course correct.

But there's a difference between forming a cult and trying to convince the minds en masse of something.

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antegamisou 447 days ago
Your info is off if you believe PRS assessments are anywhere close to pseudoscience.

And ok, let's agree for the sake of it that it is like astrology. Astrology is unnervingly popular, there are columns of big newspapers HN reveres dedicated to zodiac signs.

A cult consisted of people buying into something very close to eugenics masked as science doesn't sound it would have trouble gaining mainstream appeal in today's American society.

In fact, there's a great example of such discipline having already gained significant traction, even on this website, and it is none other than the field of evolutionary psychology. This field has provided close to zero replicable hypotheses yet it has been successfully weaponized into justifying prejudice and antisocial behavior, especially in the context of racial differences and dating.

Something like advertising reliable prediction of behaviors based on DNA would be cherry on top.

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balamatom 446 days ago
>voodoo kinds of tricks attacking the nervous system.

You mean like the art of advertisement, or more like what the extant system of social conditioning does in general?

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