[extropy-chat] Harv's Explanation for Slow Progress

[Harvey Newstrom]

Damien Broderick wrote,
> Yeah, but consider: the genome got done faster than anyone
> expected, or at least *as* fast if you're scrupulous in your 
> accounting. It's a pretty good paradigm. (True, the Powers 
> That Be, public and private, flung a shitload of $$$ at it.)

Yes, the genome got mapped faster than predicted.  But since those
predictions, we have learned a lot more about genetics.  Instead of giving
us all the answers on gene expression, we now know we have to conquer
mitochondrial DNA, RNA, protein folding, junk DNA, DNA fragments, telomere
loss, random encoding damage, duplicate genes on different chromosomes,
enzymatic expression and repression on genes, controller genes, gene
families and other cell factors on DNA expression, in addition to just
mapping the genome as expected.  Our understanding of genetic controls of
the cell is much more complicated than it used to be.  Early predictions of
each mapped gene being turned off and on like a binary switch look naïve
now.  

So my point still stands:  As we complete each milestone, we discover more
milestones.  I don't know if genetic reprogramming is now closer or farther
away than we thought before we mapped the genome.

-- 
Harvey Newstrom, CISSP, CISA, CISM, IAM, IBMCP, GSEC
Certified IS Security Pro, Certified IS Auditor, Certified InfoSec Manager,
NSA Certified Assessor, IBM Certified Consultant, SANS Certified GIAC
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