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Ok-Championship-2036 t1_iv0qer5 wrote

Gene testing to prove ethnicity/individuality is bad science. This is how I was taught in my anthro degree, that we should move away from trying to isolate social constructs like ethnicity/"subspecies" (doesnt exist in bio). The way we use it really is not how science works. Basically, they take a "perfect sample" (the only one available) and then compare everything else to it. They make a 1:1 comparison between one unique sample and another, equally unique sample. Then they say something like, "You are 56% asian pacific islander."

The reason this doesnt work is because EVERY place has more variety than similarity. You could take two samples from New York and record drastically different genomes, but someone decided that the one on the left was a Nigerian sample while the one on the right is a caucasian sample. I hope I've explained a little bit how the system is flawed due to humans choosing which sample means what and NOT based on any actual genetics/science. Its just comparing "perfect" ideals to one another. But nature has no such thing. This is why you see twins with different results or re-testing with lots of changes.

https://humgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40246-022-00391-2 The link between ancestry testing and ethnic superiority

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/1/28/18194560/ancestry-dna-23-me-myheritage-science-explainer Limits of Genetic testing

scientificamerican.com/article/white-nationalists-are-flocking-to-genetic-ancestry-tests-with-surprising-results/ Nazis facing severe cognitive dissonance after realizing "pure white" isnt a racial group used by genetic testers.

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