Wow! I'm glad I looked at this because this one is very relevant to Star Army.
On the real-world side, I was like, well, what would you use DNA for? Thought I guess it's sort of a collectable. I mean, there was certainly some people I wouldn't mind having because they look so pretty or awesome, but it's lot like I have the resources to clone them or anything. It might be cool to say, "Hey, this is a vial of Patrick Stewart's DNA!" if you're a Star Trek fan. But also creepy. DNA is more personal than, say, a photo. It's beyond just a person and also includes their family, their health. Also, imagine if someone bought DNA and then placed it at a crime scene as a red herring!
But in SARP, bits of useful DNA could be sold. Yamataians are made to be able to update their DNA with downloadable packages, allowing for customization, and while I never thought about delivering it through a vending-machine format, its seems like it would fit perfectly through the vending-machine-saturated Japanese anime culture that Yamatai draws upon. It's also very transhuman. Imagine that cosmetic features like eye color changes, animal ears, and tails might be popular. These type of vending machines could also be marketed to humans for things like weight loss via DNA that helps metabolisms. Perhaps in the world of Star Army, human immortality (in the form of aging prevention) is simply a walk to the corner vending machine.
