The Oracle
Abstract
Neurodegenerative disease runs in my wife’s family. There is a high probability that she will be affected, although we aren’t certain yet. Modern medicine has the miraculous technology to test her genes and see, with high probability, if she will develop the disease; but she always refuses. I watch her debate between living in the worried ignorance and uncertainty, gaining a peaceful assurance that she will be unaffected, or finding out with devastating surety that she will lose her mind. The Oracle is a story that speaks to this debate. It reflects the weight that these “genomic prophecies” carry. It is an allegory of a patient obtaining genetic tests. The Man is the patient, the Priests are healthcare workers, The Oracle is the test, the other supplicants are other patients. As I wrote this, I wondered what I would choose. Do I want to know my future?
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