Buzz
While DNA testing services such as Ancestry and 23andMe can compare segments of your DNA with those of people worldwide, it doesn't precisely capture your ethnic background.
Ethnicity is shaped by factors like national borders and physical traits like skin color—concepts that don’t align perfectly with our DNA. And when different ancestral groups intermixed, the lines became even more blurred. As Alva Noë explains on NPR:
Shakespeare’s child likely inherited 50 percent of his DNA; that child’s offspring, on average, would have only a quarter, and so on. After 10 generations, Shakespeare’s DNA would have spread and recombined so much that it would no longer make sense to talk about a match. To put it another way, we all share so many ancestors that we have no choice but to overlap. The reality is, your ancestry is yours, and your genes have their own story.
This doesn't even address the accuracy of testing services: each company has its own DNA database, which means results could vary from one to another. So, while taking a test might satisfy your curiosity, don't expect it to give you a definitive answer about your identity.
Image captured by aehdeschaine.
