Battleangel

The trendspotting has already started and with this top ten list, Red Herring should be off to a good start in the best of Delphian traditions.

One of the more promising prophecies is the realization of RNAi (RNA interference), i.e. “gene silencing”. Even if the prospect of more power, patents and wealth to the pharmaceutical companies is anything but pleasant. But as any sensible person would, let them do what they do and then hijack the research. Potentially important work like that does not belong with organizations that don’t respect human rights and have already cost us years worth of advances because they only seem to understand, and indeed are engineered for and thus can only operate based on, monetary profit.

That would also be my usual wish and prediction for the new year, i.e. to see the beginning of the end for patents and intellectual property as institutionalized systems. One can dream.