In January， San Diego-based Illumina， a genesequencing company， announced that it can now sequence an entire genome for only $1，000. This may sound pricey， but just a decade ago a single human genome cost hundreds of millions of dollars to sequence. The price is likely to drop even further in the years to come.
This year， the number of people having their genomes sequenced could top 50，000， and that number should increase 16）exponentially over the next few years， as governments and health-care systems announce projects to sequence hundreds of thousands of people.
Eventually， the mountains of data generated by our DNA and digital health records will be linked to Facebook and Twitter pages （or the future equivalent）. We may not like it， but the reality is that we surrender this type of information to these companies every day.
The result in a few years will be staggeringly complex statistical models， designed to predict your behavior and identify personality types， including those prone to violence or terrorism.
Genetic predictions will not be perfect or 17）deterministic. Yet the more data amassed about individuals over time， the more accurate the modeling that creates the predictions.
For instance， scientists in a 2008 study associated a variant of the 18）MAOA gene—the so-called “warrior gene”—to a predilection for violent behavior in some people. The statistical strength of this correlation is weak， and even if you have that genetic marker， you may in fact be a full-on pacifist. But let’s say that， one afternoon， you as a carrier of this gene variant “liked” an essay by a former Palestinian commando-turned-diplomat. An hour later you got curious about AlQaeda and did a quick Google search. What if some search 19）algorithm at the NSA then connected your social media data to your DNA？ The next thing you know， the Transportation Security Administration is stopping you from boarding your flight home for the holidays.
As we rush into an era of bigger and better data being crunched by legions of government and public sector employees， we may have to get used to our health information being hacked and interpreted incorrectly in ways that might work against us. Of course， it would be better to have an open debate and transparent policies about this type of data now.