Day: October 2, 2018

I’ll choose my own, thank you


In elementary school, we studied all about Danish invasions of Great Britain.  Because my grandfather came to Canada from Denmark, I lived in this fantasy that maybe I was related to some Danish royalty and might be in line for the throne or something.  Fortunately, it was just a passing fantasy but I suppose for $100 or so I could determine that for a certainty with any of the DNA sampling services available.

Obviously, I haven’t and still cut my own grass.

I find the whole concept of spitting into a tube and letting some company have my DNA to give me a report of where I might have come from so bizarre in a world where we’re scared daily about letting Google know what we’re searching for on the Internet.  Privacy this and privacy that.  But some folks, rather than talking to family members, if heritage is so important, have no qualms in giving up the essence of themselves.  Thankfully, we haven’t heard of their databases getting hacked.  But, I can recall a time when giving up your DNA was a preventative measure for convicted criminals.

Then, I read this…

SPOTIFY AND ANCESTRY CAN USE YOUR REAL DNA TO TELL YOUR “MUSICAL DNA”

In my case, I was curious.  Not $100 curious though.  I went old school and did a search on YouTube.  Denmark Top 40 Songs This Week 2019.

Hmm, now only did I get the top 40 songs, but also a preview of the future.

As I write this, what’s on my player right now “Taxi” by Harry Chapin, didn’t make the list.

I thought back to my youth.  DNA didn’t predict what I listened to.  Culture and peer pressure did.  We all had our parent’s car radio preset to The Big 8 – CKLW.  Our music was chosen for us by the ratings/charts and the disk jockey/producer of the time.

Obviously, this was a business venture from the two companies involved.

But, I wonder…is this the tip of the iceberg?

As always, what about education?

What if we tested each student coming into school and streamed them accordingly?  Let’s take all those with a French background and put them in an accelerated mathematics program because they might be related to Pierre de Fermat.  Maybe his last theorem really wasn’t the last.

Or, …, well, to continue would be to just get a bit sillier.  Teachers know that culture and environment can change the world.  I hope that we always respect that.

OTR Links 10/02/2018


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.