Hi, I'm David Pena Guzman.

And I'm Ellie Anderson.

Welcome to Overthink.

The podcast where two friends, who are also professors, put philosophy in dialogue with the everyday.

Because big ideas are within everyone's reach.

Ellie, genomics is all over the place nowadays. Yes, I've heard that genetic testing is even

starting to be used in labor hiring practices.

In Singapore, for instance, there's a specific gene that was found to be associated with

docile workers who are less moody.

And so we might be looking at a future where industrialized countries are hiring people

based on their genetic profiles. This is a dystopian terror.

I believe I have that gene. I am a very docile subject. David, docile is the last word I would

ever use for you. That is the biggest compliment you've ever given me. You don't even know it.

I am radiating positive energy as a result of that comment. But not not so positive energy, though. No, but it's not just work, really.

It was in 2008 that Newsweek reported that China was also going to begin using genetic testing as a way of recruiting

people into athletics because they also found a genetic sequence that was assumed to be

correlated with higher athletic performance and athletic literacy. And so then the idea was that

they were going to genetically test athletes for the next

Olympic Games.

And a number of people expressed horror, as you say, it was a dystopic moment because they

worried that the Chinese government was going to begin using these tests as a way of canalizing young children based on their genetic results into various kind of career paths.

Like, oh, you have the genes to be an athlete, so you can't take engineering classes.

...