This Saturday, June 26, marks the 10th anniversary of interpreting the human genome. Interestingly, there is not much mainstream public excitement for the Human Genome Project, which, regardless of how much press it gets, will undoubtedly forever change the way humans view themselves and the world around them.

The HGP modestly states its goals as identifying the roughly 20,000 to 25,000 genes and the 3 billion chemical base pairs that comprise human DNA, and then storing this information in digital databases.

This monumental task, figuratively and literally, will identify and interpret these chemical bases that have evolved over the roughly 3.8 billion years that life has existed on earth. If you do the math, that averages the rate of evolution at roughly a new chemical base pair every 9.5 months in order to get to where humans — taxonomically referred to as Homo Sapiens — exist today.

It’s hard to underestimate the impact of the results of this study. In retrospect, it could be seen as a turning point in the self-awareness of the human species. To put things into perspective, humans and mice contain roughly the same range of genes, 20,000 to 25,000. But, look at how just minor chemical changes in the same amount of genes constitutes an entirely different animal altogether.

A more complete understanding of our genetic structure will help us to better piece together the puzzle of evolution, linking us with our ancestors and helping us to understand what it is about humans that sets us so markedly apart from the rest of nature.

Applications of the mapping of the human genome will bring new, groundbreaking and innovative approaches to medicine. We will be better at identifying genetic predispositions to diseases, and consequently finding more advanced medicines, treatments and methods of gene therapy.

There will be commercial applications of genomic knowledge beyond just health care, as we could see improvements in the manufacturing of material and organic chemical compounds and possibly even increased efficiencies in crop yields and other methods of food production.

However, the deep-seated changes will be in the ripple effects of how societies interact and view themselves. The revelations that come from the studies of genomic knowledge threaten to come down with the mighty force of a hammer on the anthropocentric values that people and greater societies currently hold as fundamental.

But what if we were to find tangible genetic variations within the population; differences in race, culture, intelligence and personality?

If it only takes less than a year to develop a new base pair then the past few thousand years of society could prove to be very divisive. Racialists, hate groups and classicists could be given some sort of courage in their ways, though the differences could very well be hardly distinguishable enough to constitute a reason for discrimination. Also, fear of the unknown is hardly a reason to live in ignorance.

It will also be interesting to see how the religions of the world have to adapt the possible revelatory insights that come about. Religions and other metaphysical dogmas have been around for thousands of years, and while exponential advancements in science have begun to limit their role somewhat in the logical functions of the human psyche, I doubt humans will lose their religions altogether anytime in the near future.

Overall the outcomes of the Human Genome Project promise to be extremely insightful, to say the least. We’re living in a very exciting time in human history, and we may soon be able to answer questions that philosophers, scientists and religious leaders have posited and debated upon since the beginning of conscious thought.