Re:The Miracle of the Modern Banana
by rwallace on Thursday August 11, 2016 @07:47AM
(#12267411)
And in the meantime, make damn sure we keep samples of every existing genotype of crop species, including the varieties that aren't in themselves commercially useful because of low yields or whatever. We don't know in advance which variety might have the gene the species needs to survive some disease.
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Re:The Miracle of the Modern Banana
by JoeAltmaier on Thursday August 11, 2016 @07:49AM
(#12267419)
...or just make what we need later? I think the random-cross-slow-road of gene selection is going to be passé pretty soon.
I think that's a great goal to aim for, but remember we were supposed to have full-blown Drexler-style molecular manufacturing years ago and like most things in this universe it has turned out to be harder than we expected, so let's try to avoid letting the set of (literal) deadlines we face get any bigger than it needs to be.