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<DIV>From <A
href="http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/brooks0604.asp">Technology
Review</A>, by Rodney Brooks: Soon, our knowledge of life processes will let us
program cells as we do computers. <BR>The last fifty years of molecular biology
have largely been devoted to understanding the incredibly complex mechanisms
that govern life. Scientists have developed wonderful analytic tools to study
what goes on in cells. Now, we are on the brink of an engineering revolution
that will transform our ability to manipulate the biological world. The results
could be everything from cell-based computers to custom-made microbes that
neutralize toxic waste or manufacture chemicals. It’s a leap as large as that
from ancient alchemy to today’s materials science. <BR>Where does this lead?
Whereas now we grow a tree, cut it down, and build a table, in fifty years we
might simply grow a table. As more engineers work on biological systems, our
industrial infrastructure will be transformed. Fifty years ago it was based on
coal and steel. Now it is based on silicon and information. Fifty years from now
it will be based on living systems. Sort of like a new agricultural age, only of
a radically different kind.</DIV></BODY></HTML>