Google my genes

The wife of Google founder Sergey Brin recently founded a company called "23andMe" to help usher in the era of personalized medicine.  Someday, you'll be able to log into their website and compare your genome with other people's, and find drugs that work best for you, based on your genes.

It's an exciting development, and like all exciting developments it will lead off in many unexpected and messy directions.  But that's what it will take for society to finally end our denial, and grapple with the implications that not everyone is the same.  Some people have a higher likelihood of getting certain diseases.  Some have a brain that develops differently, making them smarter.  Some genes regulate our social behavior, making us followers instead of leaders.

The era of the Blank Slate, where everyone is considered equal in capacity, will soon be over.  Hopefully, we don't forget that everyone is still morally equal, regardless of the genes we possess.