How Technology is Changing the Family Tree

Americans are obsessed with tracing their family trees. Enabled by the Internet and advances in genetic technology, millions of people are diving deep into their family histories on WikiTree and Ancestry.com, or discovering their ethnic make-up down to the decimal point using 23andMe. Someday, the explosion of DNA-based genealogy could even create a universal family tree. So, how could these data sets alter how we think about ourselves? Should you feel a connection with someone because a genetic test says she's your seventh cousin?

Join New America NYC and Future Tense for a discussion about where technology could take our sense of history and identity.

Participants

AJ Jacobs
Author and founder, Global Family Reunion
@ajjacobs

Wilhelmina Rhodes Kelly
Genealogist and founder, Queens chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution

Maud Newton
Author, "America's Ancestry Craze," Harper's Magazine
@maudnewton

Chris Whitten
CEO, WikiTree
@chris_whitten