Am I sleeping with my cousin? There’s an app for that
In a country with a population of just 315,281, it turns out it’s not very hard to accidentally hook up with a close relative. "Everyone has heard of (or experienced) it when someone goes all in with someone and then later runs into that person at a family gathering some other time," writes the website News ...
In a country with a population of just 315,281, it turns out it's not very hard to accidentally hook up with a close relative.
In a country with a population of just 315,281, it turns out it’s not very hard to accidentally hook up with a close relative.
"Everyone has heard of (or experienced) it when someone goes all in with someone and then later runs into that person at a family gathering some other time," writes the website News of Iceland.
Now, there’s an app for that.
Three enterprising entrepreneurs have used the information from Íslendingabók — a website with a geneological database of more than 700,000 Icelanders, past and present — to make an Android app that allows users to bump phones and find out if their genes are a little too close for comfort before an encounter goes any further (slogan: "Bump the app before you bump in bed").
As the Global Post noted back in 2011, sexual encounters are becoming more anonymous as Iceland becomes increasingly urbanized. Íslendingabók began as a geneological website but has since taken on the additional role of helping couples search for common roots. Presumably, having the site available in app form will make it a bit easier to conduct these incest checks in, say, a bar or at one of those famous volcanic hot springs (couple on the right, above: take note!).
Of course, in Iceland, the question is not whether you’re related — it’s how closely. The new technology leaves up to the user the decision about whether hooking up with a third or fourth cousin is too much. But here’s hoping for a few less awkward Icelandic family reunions this summer.
Alicia P.Q. Wittmeyer is the Europe editor at Foreign Policy. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and Forbes, among other places. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and master’s degrees from Peking University and the London School of Economics. The P.Q. stands for Ping-Quon. Twitter: @APQW
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