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Lumifer comments on Open Thread, Jul. 20 - Jul. 26, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion
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True. But when the OP says "guess the complete sequence" I assume a much higher accuracy than just somewhat better than the base rate.
You can produce an estimate for the full sequence just on the basis of knowing that the subject is human (with some low accuracy), you can produce a better estimate if you know the subject's race, you can produce an even better one if you know the specific ethnic background, etc. It's still a statistical estimate and as such is quite different from actually sequencing the DNA of a specific individual.
How much higher would that be and how do you know the Icelandic imputations do not meet your standards?
A 'actual' sequence is itself a 'statistical estimate', since even with 30x coverage there will still be a lot of errors... (It's statistics all the way down, is what I'm saying.) For many purposes, the imputation can be good enough. DNA databases have already shown their utility in tracking down criminals who are not sampled in it but their relatives are. From a Kuwaiti perspective, your quibbles are uninteresting.
You don't look like a Kuwaiti :-P And, of course, interestingness is in the eye of the beholder...