Ethical, anticipatory genomics research on human behavior means celebrating disagreement

Despite the many social and ethical considerations in human genetics, researchers and communities remain largely siloed as for-profit, direct-to-consumer genetic testing and the application of polygenic scores to in vitro fertilization services become increasingly prevalent. The multifaceted challenges facing genomics, both empirical and ethical, require collaborations that foster critical dialogue and honest debate between communities inside and outside the research enterprise. This piece argues that in order to respond to the premature or inappropriate use of genomic data in industry, the scientific community needs to first embrace, understand, and be in dialogue about its disagreements. We introduce the research framework of adversarial collaboration as a way to celebrate disagreement and productively work toward policy-informed, ethical, and anticipatory genomics research.