I really don’t get this. I know where my parents and grandparents came from. Should I care if I have Irish or African blood? It baffles me that anyone does. How would that information would change my life? We should be judged by our actions, not by the origin of our distant ancestors.
I’m of the same mind. Luckily my entire family is fairly skeptical of things like this. While we want to know more about our ancestry (we know the culture we’re from as it’s pretty well documented, we would like to hone down where exactly we’re most likely from. Our last name hints at it in the region but it’s still unclear.) I would rather travel across the ocean and do manual research than give my DNA to any of the ancestry companies.
The people who most benefit from DNA ancestry are people who want to know where they came from but documentation is scarce or non-existent. In the US that group is primarily composed of the descendents of slaves. It can also help people descendent of native groups who only know that they are from some native people of North America identity a particular tribe.
I’d be really interested to know my heritage but this scenario actively is stopping me from doing so.
It’s okay, you can just be like me and have both your parents do it! They may not know my exact data, but they’ve got enough to guess.
I really don’t get this. I know where my parents and grandparents came from. Should I care if I have Irish or African blood? It baffles me that anyone does. How would that information would change my life? We should be judged by our actions, not by the origin of our distant ancestors.
I think you get disease risk data, which does give you some useful info.
I’m of the same mind. Luckily my entire family is fairly skeptical of things like this. While we want to know more about our ancestry (we know the culture we’re from as it’s pretty well documented, we would like to hone down where exactly we’re most likely from. Our last name hints at it in the region but it’s still unclear.) I would rather travel across the ocean and do manual research than give my DNA to any of the ancestry companies.
The people who most benefit from DNA ancestry are people who want to know where they came from but documentation is scarce or non-existent. In the US that group is primarily composed of the descendents of slaves. It can also help people descendent of native groups who only know that they are from some native people of North America identity a particular tribe.
Great point. I can see that being a big draw.