mitochondria (in red), part of a cell

This is a joint post with ManyMedia, offering two perspectives on this singular event: a visit to JPAC, a military lab that works to recover remains of the dead following war (repatriation).

This post is about constructing a victim’s identity, which is a puzzle constructed from the bits of a person’s remains and life.

Many people like to think about how each of us are unique, despite our commonalities: basic upright shape, two arms and two legs, 206 bones in our body (most in our hands and feet). In fact, our unique nature is what helps identify who we are. For example, our skull reveals our age, racial affiliation, biological sex, and our specific identity through many features including certain geometries of our whole skull, our teeth, and our DNA.

The DNA is the interesting part. Sampling skeletal or dental remains allows a look at nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. Nuclear DNA (taken from a cell’s nucleus) is specific to a person and can display genetic patterns of a family. It’s what is used in standard DNA testing. Mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, is passed down by the mother, and is good evidence (though not conclusive) of a specific family relationship. Here’s an article from Genebase (a global testing service) about mtDNA and it’s role in heredity.

Our DNA has one set of stories to reveal about us, but it wouldn’t be complete without the people, places and activities that also made up those lives. People who survived catastrophic incidents, or pieces of life (sardine cans from a last meal, pieces of helmets or parachutes), or other “material evidence” are also puzzle pieces that help develop an identity. The JPAC lab works with all of this evidence to re-construct the identities of the soldiers and victims of war.

Coaching moment: Sometimes context is everything. Contrary to the common approach in “Web 2.0″ technologies, our lives are rarely as simple as one bone, one face or one persona. Our current tools are poor fits for offering a more robust representation of who we are and what we want or need.

There are tools and concepts in development that will give us better control over what specific information we choose to keep or share, in different contexts, with others. These new tools are more about the living, but will also help us better understand the past.

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The test is conducted by the Shanghai Biochip Corporation. Scientists claim a simple saliva swab collects as many as 10,000 cells that enable them to isolate eleven different genes. By taking a closer look at the genetic codes, they say they can extract information about a child’s IQ, emotional control, focus, memory, athletic ability and more. …

For about $880, Chinese parents can sign their kids up for the test and five days of summer camp in Chongqing, where the children will be evaluated in various settings from sports to art. The scientific results, combined with observations by experts throughout the week, will be used to make recommendations to parents about what their child should pursue.

Coaching moment: Your DNA is the instruction book to how your body develops and works. Scientists are studying the combinations and locations of various genes to try and figure out where our health problems begin or end. In this article, the scientists are using certain tests to “determine a child’s future.” The children’s DNA map becomes part of their digital health records.

Of more interest to me was this sentence: “Examining one child’s results, he told CNN: ‘This child is very thoughtful and focused, so I suggest she go into management.’” Being thoughtful and focused might also represent the creativity of an artist, the clarity of a physicist, or the drive of a programmer. However, the notion of casting a child’s future as a manager is much more problematic because it assumes that the Chinese scientists studying these children believe that they know what “management” as a line of work will be like in the future.

Will there be a great ongoing need for managers? Will “management” add value to the world in 20-30 years? We don’t know. We do know that technology will change the way we work and communicate, which is central to “management” today.

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