All Those 23andMe Spit Tests Were Part of a Bigger Plan

ooli@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 431 points –
All Those 23andMe Spit Tests Were Part of a Bigger Plan
bloomberg.com
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By biological father was an anonymous sperm donor before the technology to sequence a person's DNA for under 10 billion dollars was a thing. They did not give their DNA to ancestry. Their sister did, having no clue that her brother had donated. Yet ancestry has matched her to several nieces and nephews, outing her brother's history to his sister and the children who were never supposed to have access to that info. It's not just your own information.

Similarly, one of my half siblings suddenly found out that his dad wasn't his birth dad.

Anyways, he happens to be cool with the fact that he suddenly had contact with offspring who weren't supposed to know who he was.

But our DNA is interconnected. It doesn't just belong to one person.

Happier version of your story:

My dad an I both did 23 and Me. He made sure I knew he had done sperm donation before I met my mother just in case something came up. Well, it did! I have two half siblings from his donations! I think it’s cool, and I think he’s happy to know he helped two families have a child.

I have a lot of half-siblings. One set of two, one set of 3 (I've only met the oldest), one only child, there's me and my two full siblings, and the donor's actual child. There's more out there. Another we matched with their child, but I don't think we even know their name. Been pretty cool meeting all of them and the donor. Its actually been a happy experience, but one certain people had no choice in making.

It's interconnected, sure, but I think you'd have an uphill battle that it doesn't belong to that person.